[Tennis] Smith/Papa Win Men's Doubles National Championship

Rome, GA – The San Diego Christian College Hawk's tennis program continues to make its' mark on the national collegiate tennis scene.  All tournament long at the 2020 ITA Cup National Championships, the eight Hawk men and women would give each opponent they faced all they could handle. Nearly every match won or lost by the team would go to a final set tie-break. Although not every match ended the way they would have liked, the inspired play and team camaraderie would ultimately culminate in a National Championship title in men's doubles by the Hawks' Ivan Smith and Chris Papa.

In the opening set of Sunday's championship match, Smith and Papa were unable to break the service of the Indiana Wesleyan team and were downed 5-7. The second set, however, saw a huge momentum swing in the Hawks favor. Through sheer determination during epic rallies and pinpoint returns of service, the determined duo were not to be denied. They flipped the script, took charge of the match, and won the penultimate set 6-3. The momentum created in the second continued into the next set as well. In the end, the will of Ivan and Chris was too much for their opponents to break and they rode the wave to victory in the third 6-3, capturing the National Championship title.

Having no easy path to the final, Smith and Papa additionally had to defeat the No. 1 seeded team from Georgia Gwinnett in the semifinal on Saturday 6-2, 5-7, 10/6. This incredible achievement was clearly not enough for them. The two had something to prove, and they did.

Congratulations, to our newest national champions, Ivan and Chris! Talons up!

The victory secured the second national championship in school history and comes on the heels of last year's women's doubles title won by Sarah Urbanek and Nadine Geschke.