After three weeks of voting in the ITA Top Moments Bracket Challenge, the champion has been crowned. Boris Sorkin captured the fans’ support after winning his second straight ITA Cup Division III Singles title in October.
The 2019 championship win brought Boris to a perfect 7-0 record in ITA Cup singles play throughout his sophomore and junior seasons. To qualify for ITA Cup, for the second straight year Sorkin won the ITA New England Regional – one of the most competitive regions in the country.
Sorkin would face the New England Regional runner-up, Stanley Morris, a month later in the ITA Cup singles final. Sorkin was pushed to three sets in the final by the Middlebury sophomore. After taking a tight first set in the tiebreaker, 7-6 (5), Sorkin dropped the second set. Undeterred, he took control in the third and sealed the match, 7-6 (5), 3-6, 6-1.
The Tufts standout was awarded the James O’Hara Sargent Sportsmanship Award at the conclusion of the national championship. The James O’Hara Sargent Sportsmanship Awards is awarded to student-athletes who display outstanding sportsmanship and exemplify the spirit of college tennis during the course of the ITA Cup. To be eligible for the award, a player must advance to the finals of their divisional singles draw.
Following his ITA Cup victory, Sorkin was named the UTR ITA Division III Men’s Player of the Month for October.
Tufts fans from all corners of the country came together on social media to push Sorkin to the Championship. The junior blazed through his matchups to reach the championship. Starting in the round of 32, Sorkin defeated Texas’s Yuya Ito, St. Mary’s College’s Damon Kesaris, Abilene Christian’s Jonathan Sheehy, and the Columbus State men’s team.
In the championship match, he faced Lailaa Bashir and Angela Charles-Alfred of Xavier University of Louisiana. The doubles tandem won the 2019 ITA Cup Doubles crown. Despite the strong support for the Gold Nuggets pair, Boris pulled in the majority of the votes.
Re-live Moments from the 2019 ITA Cup Division III Singles title:
