MADISON, N.J. – Matthew Michibata punched his ticket to the ITA Cup in both singles and doubles on Sunday at the ITA Northeast Regional, teaming with Harrison Maitland-Carter to win the doubles title while also advancing to Monday's singles final.
 
The title was a historic one for Michibata and Maitland-Carter, who became the first pair of Lions in program history to win the regional championship. With the crown, they officially locked up All-America status for the fall.
 
HOW IT HAPPENED

• Michibata eased his way into the semifinals with a 6-1, 6-3 victory against NYU's Rumaish Khastgir, then took care of another NYU foe, the unseeded Jingyuan Chen, in a 6-4, 6-3 decision to book his trip to Georgia in a week and a half
• Michibata and Maitland-Carter eked out a nail-biting 8-7 (5) tiebreaker against a strong team from Vassar in the semifinals, officially punching their ticket to the ITA Cup in thrilling fashion. The Lions duo led 7-4 before the Vassar side countered with three straight games to force a breaker, where Michibata and Maitland-Carter saw a 4-0 lead disappear but recovered to seal it on match point at 6-5
• That put them in the regional final against Aiden Drover-Mattinen and Andy Zhu from RPI, and the Lions had the goods again on the biggest stage. Playing two full sets, Michibata and Maitland-Carter pulled out the first set, 7-6 (3), in a breaker before clinching their historic title with a 6-3 decision in the second

NOTES

• Michibata will make his second singles appearance at the ITA Cup later this month. He also qualified in 2020, but before that no Lion had made it since current assistant coach Michael Klimchak in 2007
• Michibata is seeking his first career regional singles title; he also made the final in 2020
• Michibata extended his tally of career victories to 134, moving him past Pierce Cooper '16 and into fourth place on the program's all-time charts

UP NEXT

• Singles final: Michibata vs. Okada Tsubasa (RPI)