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Monday, April 20, 2015

Sun Shining On Florida Gulf Coast + A Look Back At A Few More From Sunday

Florida Gulf Coast was the big winner today as the Eagles earned its first ever NCAA berth by defeating North Florida 4-3 in the finals of the Atlantic Sun.  The teams met in the regular season 2 weeks ago with FGCU winning 7-0 but FGCU figured it wouldn't be as easy this time around despite UNF playing without its injured #1 Jack Findel-Hawkins (13.32).  The match, held in Jacksonville at UNF, started on Sunday but before the rain came UNF captured the doubles point by winning a pair of tiebreaks at 2 and 3.  Usually when you have the top 2 seeds playing for a conference championship you expect several 3-setters but all 6 singles matches finished in straight sets with no set closer than 6-4.

North Florida jumped out to a 3-1 lead with wins at 2 and 4 but Florida Gulf Coast rallied to take the final 3 matches with Ricky Ventura clinching it at #3 singles 6-1, 6-4.

For a more in-depth account of this match including the closing moments read this well written article by Seth Soffian from The South Florida News-Press.  This is an interesting quote from Ventura: "They were screaming. I was hearing everything," FGCU's No. 3 singles player said of hecklers at his end of the court while serving up 6-1, 5-4. "They were swearing at me, pushing the fence. I was really nervous."




FGCU recap

"This is an incredible accomplishment for this group of young men, but it also makes me think of all those that came before these guys," head coach CJ Weber said. "This has not been a one-year process, but a four-year process, when Coach [Dean] Tsamas was a sophomore as a player, not a coach; when Bao and Mikey were freshmen! This is the culmination of that four year journey, and it couldn't taste sweeter. It ended with us TAKING the match, and that has been our theme all year long, especially this week. It finished with Ricky hitting a line, not his opponent missing. I couldn't think of a better way to finish the tournament!"

"I am incredibly proud of this team," Vives said.  "Words can't describe moments like how we felt today! I'd like to thank everybody who believed and supported us this year! We did it and we aren't done yet!"

"This is a dream come true!" exclaimed Beiler. "For three years I've watched friends and other teams take titles for FGCU and now I get to be part of that magic. Such a special moment for our team. We went out there and took it and I am so proud to be an Eagle!"

"I'm proud of each of these guys, for all the hard work we have put in," said Alfonzo. "For all those 6 a.m. workouts, for competing the way they do and for being great teammates. I couldn't be any happier right now! Wings Up!"

"We have been waiting for this moment since the first day," said Ventura. "I am very happy to clinch the victory with my match and win the conference. I love these guys and I am very proud to be part of this team."

"I can't believe how much I have been through these past four years here," added Bao. "I love how much this team shares the same vision of what we can accomplish and followed through the entire season. Beiler and I knew what we could do since day one at FGCU and out hard work is paying off! This team is truly special and I could not have found a better place to play tennis!"

UNF recap

"We asked our guys to have heart. We asked our guys to compete with everything they have. They did that; we just came up a little short," said head coach Mark Finnegan. "I've got no regrets with how we played the match. Florida Gulf Coast played superb. They are well-coached and executed when they needed to.

"Our future is bright here are UNF," continued Finnegan. "We were on fire midway through the season and then battled some adversity. We kept fighting. We lose just one player next year and we are bringing in some great recruits. It's nothing but going up for UNF tennis."

FYI, the number beside the player's school is the player's Universal Tennis Rating as of April 20th.  For more details about UTR check out their website. 

#1 FGCU 4, #2 North Florida 3
Apr 19, 2015 at Jacksonville, Fla. (UNF Tennis Complex) 
Singles competition
1. Jordi Vives (FGCU 13.90) def. Norbert Nemcsek (UNF 12.61) 6-2, 6-4
2. Yannick Zuern (UNF 12.72) def. Andres Alfonzo (FGCU 13.24) 6-3, 6-1
3. Ricky Ventura (FGCU 12.88) def. Julian Bradley (UNF 12.73) 6-1, 6-4
4. Lasse Muscheites (UNF 12.65) def. Tianyu Bao (FGCU 12.21) 6-2, 6-2
5. Eduardo Alfonzo (FGCU 12.44) def. Zach Goldberg (UNF 12.49) 6-4, 6-2
6. Michael Beiler (FGCU 12.04) def. Alberto De Meo (UNF 11.88) 6-3, 6-3
Doubles competition
1. Jordi Vives/Eduardo Alfonzo (FGCU) vs. Lasse Muscheites/Zach Goldberg (UNF) 7-6, unf
2. Norbert Nemcsek/Julian Bradley (UNF) def. Ricky Ventura/Lucas Vaz (FGCU) 8-7 (4)
3. Alberto De Meo/Yannick Zuern (UNF) def. Tianyu Bao/Andres Alfonzo (FGCU) 8-7 (3)
Match Notes:
No. 2 North Florida 17-7; National ranking #73
No. 1 FGCU 17-5
Order of finish: Doubles (3,2); Singles (1,2,4,6,5,3)
2015 Atlantic Sun Men's Tennis Championship
Weather delay at 4:05 pm Sunday; At 4:40 pm, match suspended to Monday
Match resumed with singles at 9:30 am
Florida Gulf Coast wins 2015 Atlantic Sun Tournament


There were a pair of upsets yesterday in the Big South semifinals with both the #1 and #2 seeds going down.  Here is the Big South's recap of Campbell's win and Winthrop's win.

Campbell 4, Coastal Carolina 2
Apr 20, 2015 at Asheville, N.C. (Asheville Racquet Club)
Singles competition
1. TSANGARIDES, P. (COASTALM) vs. Billington,Steven (CAM-M) 6-3, 6-7 (3-7), 1-2, unfinished
2. PEREIRA, Kaue (COASTALM) def. Schaefer,Lukas (CAM-M) 6-2, 6-2
3. VELICKOVIC, Vuk (COASTALM) def. Rakitin,Nicolas (CAM-M) 6-1, 6-3
4. Rossignon,Adrien (CAM-M) def. YEDIGARIAN, Garik (COASTALM) 3-6, 6-1, 6-1
5. O'Neal,Jonathan (CAM-M) def. SAMED, Renan (COASTALM) 6-2, 5-7, 6-3
6. Visser,Marthinus (CAM-M) def. LEME, Pedro (COASTALM) 6-4, 6-4
Doubles competition
1. TSANGARIDES, P./PEREIRA, Kaue (COASTALM) def. Rossignon,Adrien/Visser,Marthinus (CAM-M) 8-6
2. Schaefer,Lukas/O'Neal,Jonathan (CAM-M) def. SAMED, Renan/LEME, Pedro (COASTALM) 8-7 (7-3)
3. Billington,Steven/Rakitin,Nicolas (CAM-M) def. YEDIGARIAN, Garik/VELICKOVIC, Vuk (COASTALM) 8-4
Match Notes:
Order of finish: Doubles (3,1,2); Singles (2,6,3,5,4)
Big South Men's Tennis Championships
Semifinal 1: No. 1 Coastal Carolina vs. No. 4 Campbell
Official: Wayne Tesh

Winthrop 4, Liberty 0
Apr 20, 2015 at Asheville, N.C. (Asheville Racquet Club)
Singles competition
1. MATHESON, Sam (LIBERTY) vs. MITCHELL, Tremayne (WUM) 6-7 (5-7), 6-1, 0-1, unfinished
2. COMERFORD, Dylan (WUM) def. AZUERO, Jorge (LIBERTY) 6-4, 6-4
3. PATRICK, Steven (WUM) def. SAMAAI, Egon (LIBERTY) 6-3, 6-4
4. BURGESS, Jason (LIBERTY) vs. NAGOVNAK, Peter (WUM) 6-7, 1-4, unfinished
5. CASTANO, Diego (LIBERTY) vs. FRANZANTI, Ruben (WUM) 7-6, 1-6, unfinished
6. CHEN, Michael (WUM) def. BUSH, David (LIBERTY) 6-3, 6-1
Doubles competition
1. COMERFORD, Dylan/NAGOVNAK, Peter (WUM) def. SAMAAI, Egon/MATHESON, Sam (LIBERTY) 8-6
2. BUSH, David/AZUERO, Jorge (LIBERTY) vs. MITCHELL, Tremayne/PATRICK, Steven (WUM) 7-4, unfinished
3. RYAN, Joshua/CHEN, Michael (WUM) def. CASTANO, Diego/BURGESS, Jason (LIBERTY) 8-6
Match Notes:
Winthrop 13-8
Liberty 14-10
Order of finish: Doubles (3,1); Singles (6,2,3)
Big South Men's Tennis Championship Semifinals
Match 7: No. 2 Liberty vs. No. 3 Winthrop
Official: Wayne Tesh T-2:40




There were a couple of regular season matches from Sunday that I wanted to mention that kind of slipped under my radar since I was busy working on the conference tournaments.

#8 Duke got stunned by unranked Georgia Tech 4-3 which was by far Georgia Tech's biggest win in quite some time.  Duke was playing without its #1 Nicolas Alvarez (14.48) and #5 Chris Mengel (13.66) but it was still a fight to the finish.  With the match tied at 3-3, Georgia Tech's #2 Carlos Benito pulled away from Duke's Raphael Hemmeler in the 3rd set to clinch the win.  Read the excellent Duke recap for all the details about each match.  I've mentioned it before but wanted to say it again - I've yet to see another school that has the kind of details that Duke provides on its recaps. You can tell from reading them that somebody from the school was actually paying attention and logging the scoring shifts.  Kudos Duke!!




Georgia Tech recap

"This was an incredible match. Just a great college tennis match," said Thorne. "We've been in this position in several matches this year, we did the right things and we didn't get them. But these guys are young, and they have kept coming. This match shows what they're made of."

"The guys really rallied around Eddie today, and that was really inspiring," said Thorne. "To have it come down to your senior winning his doubles match and getting us off to a good start in singles, you couldn't have written it up any better."

"Carlos saved four set points in the tiebreaker, which was huge, because his opponent relaxed in the second set and played well," said Thorne. "They kept coming after each other, and neither of them gave in. Carlos needed to play aggressively and get after it, and he did."

Duke recap

Georgia Tech 4, #8 Duke 3
Apr 19, 2015 at Atlanta, Ga. (Ken Byers Tennis Complex)
Singles competition
1. #51 Jason Tahir (DU 13.94) def. #62 Christopher Eubanks (GT 13.71) 3-6, 6-4, 6-4
2. Carlos Benito (GT 13.55) def. #59 Raphael Hemmeler (DU 14.32) 7-6 (11), 3-6, 6-3
3. Bruno Semenzato (DU 13.84) def. Nathan Rakitt (GT 13.02) 7-6 (4), 6-3
4. Josh Levine (DU 12.64) def. Michael Kay (GT 13.38) 6-4, 7-6 (7-3)
5. Cole Fiegel (GT 13.01) def. TJ Pura (DU 13.27) 6-3, 6-4
6. Eduardo Segura (GT 13.34) def. Daniel McCall (DU 12.96) 6-2, 6-3
Doubles competition
1. #88 Carlos Benito/Eduardo Segura (GT) def. Josh Levine/Jason Tahir (DU) 8-7 (7-2)
2. Christopher Eubanks/Michael Kay (GT) def. TJ Pura/Bruno Semenzato (DU) 8-5
3. Raphael Hemmeler/Daniel McCall (DU) def. Casey Kay/Nathan Rakitt (GT) 8-6
Match Notes:
Duke 21-5, 8-4 ACC; National ranking #8
Georgia Tech 12-11, 4-8 ACC
Order of finish: Doubles (2,3,1); Singles (6,4,1,5,3,2)
Match played indoors

T-3:33 A-250


Minnesota captured a share of the Big 10 title for the first time in over 20 years with a thrilling 4-3 win over Northwestern in the regular season finale.  The match came down to a 3rd set tiebreak at #4 singles and it was Minnesota's Felix Corwin pulling it out to give the Gophers its 2nd big win in the last 3 days.  The win over Illinois on Friday also came down a 3rd set tiebreaker.
Minnesota recap
Illinois recap

 #33 Minnesota 4, #27 Northwestern 3
Apr. 19, 2015 at Minneapolis, Minn. (Baseline Tennis Center)
Singles competition
1. #66 Sam Shropshire (NU 13.97) def. #21 Leandro Toledo (MINN 14.17) 6-1, 7-5
2. #94 Matic Spec (MINN 14.10) def. Strong Kirchheimer (NU 13.65) 6-4, 6-4
3. Konrad Zieba (NU 13.56) def. Ruben Weber (MINN 13.48) 2-6, 6-4, 6-3
4. Felix Corwin (MINN 13.45) def. Logan Staggs (NU 13.40) 4-6, 7-5, 7-6 (7-5)
5. Jack Hamburg (MINN 13.42) def. Fedor Baev (NU 12.77) 6-3, 2-6, 6-2
6. Alp Horoz (NU 13.06) def. Mathieu Froment (MINN 12.89) 7-5, 4-6, 6-3 
Doubles competition
1. #47 Jack Hamburg/Mathieu Froment (MINN) vs. #53 Alex Pasareanu/Sam Shropshire (NU) 4-7
2. Felix Corwin/Leandro Toledo (MINN) def. Fedor Baev/Strong Kirchheimer (NU) 8-5
3. Eric Frueh/Matic Spec (MINN) def. Alp Horoz/Mihir Kumar (NU) 8-2
Match Notes
Northwestern 19-8 (8-3 Big Ten); National ranking #27
Minnesota 19-6 (10-1 Big Ten); National ranking #33
Order of finish: Doubles (3,2); Singles (1,5,2,3,6,4)



Virginia Tech capped off an excellent regular season with a 4-3 win on the road at Florida State.  The Hokies dropped the doubles point but picked up singles wins at 2, 3, 4, and 5 with Amerigo Contini providing the clincher at #2 singles.

Virginia Tech recap
Florida State recap

“Virginia Tech is one of the most improved teams in the country,” head coach Dwayne Hultquist said. “They have some good wins on the season, and their coach (Jim Thompson) is probably the frontrunner for conference Coach of the Year. They have experienced guys and competed at every spot in the lineup.”

“The doubles was great,” Hultquist said. “The level of energy was really strong and that was outstanding today. On Court 2, Cristian and Jose were playing together for the first time since the beginning of the season and they were great for us today.”

“We saw this before,” Hultquist said of Lock, who ranked as high as No. 79 in the fall. “He didn’t have as big a fall as we would have liked. We see him as a Top 30 player in the country already, but his results haven’t shown that. He showed it this weekend with those big wins. He’s improved his game and gotten more aggressive as the season has progressed.”

“Our RPI is 21 right now,” Hultquist said. “We’ve had a little trouble getting over the hump. We’ve played Texas, Florida, and now Virginia Tech, all Top 15 teams, right down to the wire and didn’t pull them out. That’s something we need to work on. We’re certainly at that level. That’s the part of the team, the mental toughness, that’s key.”

#14 Virginia Tech 4, #32 Florida State 3
April 19, 2015 - Tallahassee, FL (Indoor Tennis Facility)
Singles Competition
#98 Benjamin Lock (FSU 13.77) def. #38 Andreas Bjerrehus (VT 13.89), 6-2, 7-5
#68 Amerigo Contini (VT 14.13) def. #95 Michael Rinaldi (FSU 13.87), 6-4, 6-2
#110 Joao Monteiro (VT 13.65) def. Marco Nunez (FSU 13.65), 6-2, 6-0
#103 Hunter Koontz (VT 13.76) def. Cristian Gonzalez Mendez (FSU 13.59), 6-2, 6-0
Edoardo Tessaro (VT 13.34) def. Jose Gracia (FSU 13.35), 4-6, 6-3, 6-2
Terrell Whitehurst (FSU 12.82) def. Jai Corbett (VT 13.00), 6-3, 6-2
Doubles Competition
#63 Bjerrehus/Koontz (VT) def. #13 Lock/Nunez (FSU), 8-4
Gonzalez Mendez/Gracia (FSU) def. Contini/Corbett (VT), 8-3
Terrance Whitehurst/Whitehurst (FSU) def. Monteiro/Tessaro (VT), 8-7 (4)
Match Notes:
Order of Finish: Doubles (2,1,3); Singles (3,4,6,1,5,2)
FSU 18-9, 6-6 ACC; Nat’l Rank 32
Virginia Tech 19-3, 10-2 ACC; Nat’l Rank 14


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