AUSTIN, Texas – Sophomore Kevin Bettendroffer secured his first career singles win, and teamed up with junior Guillaume Rauseo to pick up a doubles win for the Texas A&M - Corpus Christi men's tennis team on the final day of competition at the UT Invitational at the Weller Indoor Tennis Center in Austin, Texas.
"I thought we played very high level today," Director of Tennis Steve Moore said. "Half of the team has the flu. One of the foundations of our team is maxing out on the things we can control and in this instance we have to max out on the things we have to do to get healthy. We were only able to play four guys today in singles.
"I thought Kevin played very high-level tennis for the third day in a row. We are very excited about the level he is playing. I also thought him and Guillaume played an excellent match in doubles as well. We competed hard today, every guy."
Bettendroffer came out strong today to clinch a 6-4, 6-4 straight-set win over Johan den Toom of Arkansas in singles play. Prior to that he joined fellow France native Rauseo in doubles play and the two topped the Arkansas pair of den Toom and Juan Marino, 7-5, in a close battle.
In singles play the Islanders played three other matches against the Razorbacks. Rauseo fell just short 7-5, 7-6 (3) to Jovan Parlic, while Paul Cook fell 6-0, 6-2 to Marino. In the final singles match today, freshman Wilks Kothmann dropped a 6-0, 6-1 loss to Santiago Munoz.
Along with Bettendroffer's and Rauseo's doubles match, P. Cook paired with junior Mitchell Cook but fell short to the Razorback duo of Munoz and Parlic, 6-2. Rounding out doubles play was Kothmann who teamed up with William Jou of Texas to face the Longhorn pair of Adrien Berkowicz and George Goldhoff. In a match that doesn't count toward rankings, Kothmann and Jou dropped a 6-0 loss.
"This was a top-notch tournament with very high-level teams, Texas, Arkansas and Texas Tech, and very-high level players," Moore added. "I thought we held our own and represented our school very well.
"We have a lot to work on and improve on, but we have high-character guys with a strong work ethic, so I'm ecstatic about the potential that we have for this year if we keep making good choices. I can't thank University of Texas head coach Michael Center for inviting us to this invite, as well as Steve Bryan, the Director of Tennis at the UT Tennis Club, and the amazing families that housed our players."
The Islanders men's team will return to action when they host Maryland Baltimore County on Friday, Jan. 23, for the second straight year at the Thomas J. Henry Tennis Center. This time though the teams will meet for a doubleheader starting at 9 a.m., with the second match slated for 3 p.m. The women's team will open the season on Saturday, Jan. 17, when they take on BYU in Houston.
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UT Invitational
Austin, Texas (Weller Indoor Tennis Center)
1/11/15
Singles
Kevin Bettendroffer (AMCC) def. Johan den Toom (Arkansas) 6-4, 6-4
Juan Marino (Arkansas) def. Paul Cook (AMCC) 6-0, 6-2
Santiago Munoz (Arkansas) def. Wilks Kothmann (AMCC) 6-0, 6-1
Jovan Parlic (Arkansas) def. Guillaume Rauseo (AMCC) 7-5, 7-6 (3)
Doubles
Kevin Bettendroffer/Guillaume Rauseo (AMCC) def. Johan den Toom/Juan Marino (Arkansas) 7-5
Adrien Berkowicz/George Goldhoff (UT) def. William Jou (UT)/Wilks Kothmann (AMCC) 6-0
Santiago Munoz/Jovan Parlic (Arkansas) def. Paul Cook/Mitchell Cook (AMCC) 6-2
