Box Score
CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas – The Southeastern Louisiana men’s tennis team were eliminated from the Southland Conference Tournament by top-seeded Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, 4-0, in semifinal round action Saturday morning at the HEB Tennis Center.
The fourth-seeded Lions (12-10) fought hard was overwhelmed by the No. 52 Islanders (13-8). Southeastern dropped the doubles point and A&M-Corpus Christi clinched the match with three singles victories. The Islanders will play sixth-seeded Nicholls State, which upset second-seeded Texas-Pan American in Saturday’s other semifinal. The tournament final is set for noon on Sunday with the winner advancing to the NCAA Championships.
“We fought hard today and I’m proud of the way we battled,” Southeastern head coach
Jason Hayes commented. “A&M-Corpus Christi has a very talented team and they played extremely well this morning.”
Texas A&M-Corpus Christi took the lead with two doubles victories. At No. 1, the nation’s 59th-ranked doubles pair of Dmitry Novikov and Mikhail Pavlov defeated the Lion duo of sophomore
Stepan Siska and junior
Benjamin Enke, 8-3. Southeastern sophomore
Julien Roussel and freshman
Damien Cordoba fell 8-2 to James Langford and David Pace at No. 3.
The Islanders pushed the lead to 2-0 at No. 2 singles, as Pavlov moved past Roussel (8-6), 6-1, 6-3. At No. 5, Jaume Farras moved past Lion senior and SLC Newcomer of the Year
Guillaume Capovin (16-6) 6-3, 6-2. The match was clinched at No. 6, where Langford was too much for Lion All-SLC freshman
Jan Bezdecka (8-10), 6-2, 6-4.
The future should be bright for the Lions, as Southeastern will return five of its six starters from this season’s team in 2010.
2009 Southland Conference Men’s Tennis Tournament
Corpus Christi, Texas – HEB Center
Friday, April 24
First Round
Match 1 – No. 6 Nicholls State 4, No. 3 UTSA 2
Match 2 – No. 4 Southeastern Louisiana 4, No. 5 UT Arlington 1
Saturday, April 25
Semifinals
Match 3 – Nicholls State 4, No. 2 Texas-Pan American 0
Match 4 –No. 1 Texas A&M-Corpus Christi 4, Southeastern Louisiana 0
Sunday, April 26
Finals
Championship Match – Nicholls State vs. Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, 12 p.m.