Waco - The Texas A&M-Corpus Christi men's tennis team
finished up play at the prestigious Baylor HEB Men's Invitational
late Friday and Saturday on the campus of Baylor University,
In doubles action, Dmitry Novikov and James Langford won another
match, beating the team of Adrian Chermaci and Vlad Marinescu of
Wichita State in an 8-5 decision. Novikov and Langford would later
fall in the quarterfinals after a tough, competitive match against
Moritz Baumann and Michalicka of Wisconsin. The Badger duo was the
#1-seeded team in the A flight of the tournament but had to earn
every point against Novikov and Langford before winning 8-5.
"I think James and Dmitry are a nationally ranked caliber team
capable of making the NCAA tournament in doubles and going far in
that tournament," said Director of Tennis Steve Moore. "They are
good enough to beat any team in country but it is a horse race to
see who works the hardest and improves the most between now and
April."
In singles action, Novikov fell in his second match of the day
in the A draw on Friday against the #5-seed in the tournament Marek
Michalicka of Wisconsin. Novikov fought hard but could not manage
a win after a grueling three-set match against Marcus Lunt of Texas
A&M earlier in the day. The final between Novikov and
Michalicka was 6-4, 6-4 in favor of Michalicka.
Langford lost a 6-2, 6-3 final to Max Stevens of Tennessee in
the consolation round of the A draw.
In B singles, Alex Pavlov fell in a 6-3, 7-6(4) match against
Jack Seider of Texas A&M during the consolation round. Nathan
Robinson lost 6-0, 6-0 to Sam Garforth-Bles of Rice in the round of
32.
"We saw a lot of positives this weekend but we have a lot to
work on also." said Moore. "It is the same for every player on our
team, we just have to focus on keeping things very simple, show up
and working extremely hard every day at practice."
The Baylor tournament is the last fall event the Islander men's
team will compete in until they conclude the fall season late next
month as they take part in the NCAA Region VI Regional in College
Station on the campus of Texas A&M. The Aggies host the
regional from October 24-27.
Josh Brown
Assistant Director of Athletic Media Relations Texas A&M Corpus
Christi
Office: (361) 825-3411 Personal Cell: (337) 302-4722
email: joshua.brown@tamucc.edu
