ROME, Ga. – Senior Noah Sutin and sophomore Kaden Sigurdsson recorded the first ITA Cup victory in Lewis & Clark College men's tennis history, and first-year Sonya Drayton added a singles win as the River Otters completed three days of competition at the Rome Tennis Center.
 
Sutin and Sigurdsson became the first men in program history to compete at the ITA Cup Small College Championships. Drayton was the third woman since 2015 to represent Lewis & Clark at the championships and the first since Wiktoria Plawska in 2016.
 
All three earned Northwest Conference Student-Athlete of the Week honors in tennis for their performances. The award was Drayton and Sigurdsson's second career honor and Sutin's fourth.
 
HOW IT HAPPENED
 
Men's Doubles Recap
 
Sutin and Sigurdsson rallied from a one-set deficit Friday to defeat Kristian Sharma and Henry Wilson of Claremont-Mudd-Scripps 1-6, 6-3, 10-8. After dropping the opening set, the River Otters won the second to force a deciding 10-point tiebreaker. The victory was also believed to be the men's program's first against the Stags.
 
Sutin and Sigurdsson opened Thursday with a 6-4, 6-2 loss to Emory University's Juno Pethe and Mitchell Deames.
 
In Saturday's final contest, Sutin and Sigurdsson faced Hamilton College's Alexei Katelevsky and Filip Glov Moeller. The River Otters lost the first set in a tiebreak before taking the second 6-2. They held a match point in the deciding tiebreak but fell 7-6 (1), 2-6, 13-11 to finish 1-2.
 
Women's Singles Recap
 
Despite suffering an injury in the opening set of her first match, Drayton competed in all three singles contests and finished with a victory Saturday.
 
Drayton defeated Vassar College's Sieun Lee 7-6 (7-3), 3-6, 6-0. She won the opening-set tiebreak and, after Lee took the second set, did not surrender a game in the third.
 
Drayton opened Thursday with a 6-4, 6-0 loss to second-seeded Sophie Lau of Pomona-Pitzer. Lau was ranked No. 54 nationally in the 2027 recruiting class.
 
On Friday, Drayton took the first set against Emory's Holyn Karp, a former four-star recruit, before losing 4-6, 6-2, 6-1. Drayton finished the tournament 1-2.
 
COACH'S CORNER
 
"What a great way to cap the end of the fall competitive season. I wish all of our players could experience the ITA Cup and see what it takes to compete at the highest level in DIII," head coach Jimmy Chau said. "Sonya, Noah, and Kaden all showed that they can compete with the best in the nation. While I am sure they wanted even better results, they should be proud of the way they overcame adversity and played to the best of their ability. I hope they're able to use this experience as a springboard to leading our programs to even greater heights this spring."
 
WHAT'S NEXT
 
The ITA Cup concluded Lewis & Clark's fall competitive season. The River Otters return to team competition in the spring.