Young, Kittay Prepare for NCAA Individual Championships

ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- Gavin Young and Benjamin Kittay of the University of Michigan men's tennis team will embark on the first fall NCAA Singles and Doubles Championships when it gets underway on Tuesday (Nov. 19) at the Hurd Tennis Center in Waco, Texas.

Notes

• The NCAA moved the championships to the fall season, leaving the spring focused on dual and team play. This is year one of a two-year pilot program.

• All matches are best-of-three sets with no-ad scoring and a seven-point tiebreaker (first to seven points and must win by two times) at six-games-all will be used for all matches. In doubles, a 10-point matchbreaker will be played in lieu of a third set.

• Young qualified for the 64-man singles championship by reaching the semifinals of the ITA Sectionals in Fort Worth last week. He'll face the No. 1 overall seed Sebastian Gorzny (Texas) in the first round on Nov. 19. The two met in the 2023 NCAA team championship, with Gorzny winning 7-6 (6), 6-2 at No. 5 singles as TCU won, 4-1.

• Young and Kittay qualified for the doubles championship in October by winning the ITA Midwest Regional title with five straight wins. They will face Notre Dame's Peter Nad/Sebastian Dominko in the first round on Nov. 20.

• This is the third time Young has qualified for the NCAA Singles. He reached the second round in 2023 as an alternate defeating Illinois' Ozolins in the round of 64 before falling to Columbia's Michael Zheng in the second round. Last year, he lost in three sets to Auburn's Finn Murgett in the first round.

• Young is 8-3 in singles this season, going 4-3 against ranked opponents, with his best match being last week when he topped No. 41 Issac Becroft (Oklahoma State). All-time, Young is 75-38 in singles play. He currently ranks No. 7 in the preseason ITA rankings.

• Young is an All-American in doubles, capturing the honor in 2023 with partner Andrew Fenty. He has qualified for the NCAA Doubles Championship four times -- all with different partners. Ondrej Styler in 2022, Andrew Fenty in 2023, Jacob Bickersteth in 2024 and now Kittay.

• A transfer from North Carolina, Kittay is making his second appearance in the NCAA doubles championship. He qualified in 2023 with Brian Cernoch, falling in the first round to a pair from Pepperdine.

• The pair is 6-1 on the season with its best victory being against No. 2 ranked Ratiu/Blaydes of Georgia. They are 2-1 against ranked opponents and ranked No. 17 in the preseason rankings.