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

by | Apr 21, 2015 | Blog

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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 finis