CORPUS CHRISTI – After dropping a tight doubles point, the No. 69 ranked Texas A&M - Corpus Christi men's tennis team rebounded in singles play to secure a 4-1 victory today at the Thomas J. Henry Tennis Center over No. 60 South Alabama (8-5). The Islanders clinched their sixth straight victory to improve to an impressive 9-3 on the year.
"The guys lost a heartbreaking doubles point, shook it off, dug their feet in and absolutely went to battle," Director of Tennis Steve Moore said. "They competed like champions today and I'm very proud of them.
"It would have been easy to still be fatigued from 'The H-E-B' and after losing a heartbreaking doubles point to let our spirit and fight drop a little, but the guys just took the champions road, and paid the price and fought like pit bulls. As soon as the doubles point was over we were up on all six courts. That's a real statement about their character."
The No. 69 ranked men's team (9-3) started the day in doubles action and the duo of Kevin Bettendroffer and Guillaume Rauseo earned their fourth straight win at No. 2 doubles. The tandem downed Tim Srkala and Olivier Gingras, 8-4, before the No. 61 ranked Jaguar pair of Daniel Leitner and Gerhard Gruindelingh edged the senior-freshman duo of Peter Nagy and Arthur Bedel, 9-7, in No. 1 doubles. USA then clinched the point after Juan Troglia and Tuki Jacobs topped Ricardo Mayagoitia and Paul Cook, 8-6, in No. 3 doubles.
The Islanders however bounced back in singles play with four straight wins to capture the match. Mayagoitia helped the Islanders get off to a strong start with a 6-1, 6-4 straight-set win over Gruindelingh in No. 3 singles. Rauseo then followed suit with his fifth consecutive win at No. 4 after he breezed to a 6-1, 6-2 victory over Troglia. With the Islanders in front, 2-1, Bettendroffer snapped a two-match losing streak with a three-set win over Srkala in the No. 2 slot. The sophomore fell 8-6 in the first-set tiebreaker before answering with consecutive 6-1 sets to earn the Islanders their third point of the match. No. 73 ranked Nagy then capped off the match with consecutive 7-5 tiebreaker wins at No. 1 singles over No. 75 ranked Leitner to clinch the match. With the win, the senior improves to 9-1 in No. 1 singles, and now has two wins over ranked opponents.
The Islanders will next be in action when they travel to San Antonio on Wednesday, March 18, to face UTSA.
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Men's Tennis Match Results
South Alabama vs. Texas A&M - Corpus Christi
3/14/2015 at Corpus Christi, Texas
#69 Texas A&M - Corpus Christi 4, #60 South Alabama 1
Singles competition
1. #73 Peter Nagy (AMCC) def. #75 Leitner, Daniel (USA) 7-6 (7-5), 7-6 (7-5)
2. Kevin Bettendroffer (AMCC) def. Srkala, Tim (USA) 6-7 (6-8), 6-1, 6-1
3. Ricardo Mayagoitia (AMCC) def. Gruindelingh, G. (USA) 6-1, 6-4
4. Guillaume Rauseo (AMCC) def. Troglia, Juan (USA) 6-1, 6-2
5. Javier Pujol (AMCC) vs. Jacobs, Tuki (USA) 7-5, 4-6, 1-0, unfinished
6. Arthur Bedel (AMCC) vs. Gingras, Olivier (USA) 6-1, 4-6, 0-2, unfinished
Doubles competition
1. #61 Leitner, Daniel/Gruindelingh, G. (USA) def. Peter Nagy/Arthur Bedel (AMCC) 9-7
2. Kevin Bettendroffer/Guillaume Rauseo (AMCC) def. Srkala, Tim/Gingras, Olivier (USA) 8-4
3. Troglia, Juan/Jacobs, Tuki (USA) def. Ricardo Mayagoitia/Paul Cook (AMCC) 8-6
Match Notes:
South Alabama 8-5; National ranking #60
Texas A&M - Corpus Christi 9-3; National ranking #69
Order of finish: Doubles (2,1,3); Singles (3,4,2,1)
