VALDOSTA, Ga. – Fresh off his ITA Regional title, Valdosta State men's tennis standout Luca Mack heads back to Rome, Ga., for the 2022 ITA Cup, beginning Thursday at 11 a.m., at the Rome Tennis Center and running through Oct. 16.
 
Mack, a junior from Emmendingen, Germany, earned the top-seed after he was the only player at the regional to not drop a set two weeks ago.  To open play on Thursday, Mack will face Azusa Pacific's (Calif.) Leyton Bohren.  Bohren reached the final of the ITA West Regional as he entered as the No. 4-seed.  He lost in the regional final to Alexandre Leischner of Point Loma, who also qualified for this week's championship.  The winner of Thursday's round of 16 match between Mack/Bohren will face the winner of Dani Ortiz of Harding or Jorge Perez of Charleston (W.Va.).  
 
With Mack at the top spot, Barry's Alejandro Ibanez Gallego is the No. 2-seed as Mack defeated him with a pair of 7-5 victories on Sept. 26.  For the regional, Mack opened with a 6-3, 6-4 win over Mario Garoz of Florida Southern, then downed rival Nuutti Jokinen of West Alabama, 7-5, 6-2, and then defeated Titouan Le Maout of Auburn Montgomery, 6-3, 6-0 in the quarterfinals.  He then downed Tao Castillo of Saint Leo, 6-2, 6-4, before the win over Gallego.  
 
Mack has had an outstanding career for the Blazers as he earned ITA All-America honors in both singles and doubles last season, going 20-5 against Division II competition and 15-5 in the spring.  Mack went 7-2 in Gulf South Conference play and earned first team all-league honors.  For dual matches for his career, Mack is 30-12 in singles and 17-3 in GSC play, while he has gone 26-18 in doubles in dual matches and 15-5 in GSC play.  
 
He and teammate Rodrigo Carvalho reached the ITA Doubles South Regional Championship in 2021, falling in a heartbreaker, 7-5, 2-6, 1-6, to Columbus State duo of Tomaso Schold and Pietro Martinetti.  A few weeks later, Mack then won his flight at the GSC Fall Championships in singles.
 
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