April 26, 2015

Men's Tennis Earns Third Straight NCAA Bid With Southland Tournament Win

BEAUMONT, Texas – The No. 60 nationally-ranked Islanders men's tennis team (19-6) rallied back after dropping the doubles point to earn their third straight Southland Conference Tournament title, 4-2, over Lamar tonight at the Beaumont Municipal Tennis Center. Junior Ricardo Mayagoitia secured a third-set win at No. 3 singles to clinch the match and earn the Islanders their sixth trip to the NCAAs in the last eight years. It marks the Islanders' seventh overall Southland Tournament title in program history.

"This was the best tennis college match I have ever been a part of as a coach and a player," Director of Tennis Steve Moore said. "I can't tell you how much respect I have for Lamar, Coach Scott Shankles and the way their team competed today. I also can't put into words how proud I am of our team and the amount of heart that they showed to never give up and the courage they had to pull this out today.

"I can't begin to tell you about the courage of little Ricardo Mayagoitia who has the biggest heart in the world for his team. I will never forget how hard this team fought today. This was absolute electric environment for five hours."

The Cardinals (14-11) grabbed a tight doubles point with the deciding point coming down to No. 3 doubles. First Lamar's pair of Michael Feucht and Benny Schweizer defeated sophomore Kevin Bettendroffer and Guillaume Rauseo, 8-4, at No. 2 doubles before the Islanders answered back with a win at No. 1 doubles. The freshman-senior pair of Arthur Bedel and Peter Nagy edged out Nikita Lis and Jeandr Hoogenboezem, 8-6, at No. 1 to even things up. The doubles point then came down to a tiebreaker at No. 3 doubles between the duo of Mayagoitia and sophomore Paul Cook and Lamar's Mikko Rajamaki and Juuso Laitinen. The Islanders went neck-and-neck with the Cardinals in the tiebreaker until Rajamaki and Laitinen earned two straight points at 7-7 to clinch the point, 9-7.

The Islanders rallied back in singles play to push ahead 3-1 with wins on courts two, four and five. Bettendroffer put the Islanders on the board with a 6-3, 6-4 straight-set win over Feucht at No. 2 singles. The sophomore garnered his 10th consecutive match to improve to 15-4 in the No. 2 spot.

Rauseo then followed with a three-set win at No. 4 singles to give the Islanders a 2-1 lead. The junior downed Hoogenboezem 6-2 in the first set before falling 6-1 in the second set. In the third, Rauseo cruised to a 6-2 win. Moments later, junior Javier Pujol followed suit with a straight-set win at No. 5 singles. Pujol breezed to a 6-1 win over Rajamaki before capturing a 6-3 second-set win to pad the Islanders lead to 3-1.

Lamar then trimmed the Islanders lead to one after No. 101 ranked Nagy fell to Lis, 7-6 (5), 7-5 at No. 1 singles. It marked just Nagy's third loss of the season in dual-match play and he is just one career win shy of matching Associate Head Coach Goncalo Figueiredo's program-best 67 wins. This season he has registered an impressive 18-3 record in the No. 1 slot.

The final two matches came down to No. 3 and No. 6 singles. P. Cook was battling Laitinen at No. 6 in a third set when Mayagoitia clinched the match. Mayagoitia sealed the first set, 6-2, over Schweizer before falling 6-2 in the second. In the third after trading games, Mayagoitia pushed ahead before winning a 6-3 third set to clinch the match.

"Lamar's crowd was amazing and the way they competed on their home court was as tenacious as I have ever seen," Moore said. "I don't think there is one person of the 200 plus people there today that didn't scream for five hours. There were two teams that deserved to win this match.

"It took every member of this men's and women's team and every member of the Islanders Athletics department that was here fighting as hard as they could to pull this off today. I also want to take a moment to thank Stephanie McDonald and the staff at the Southland Conference as well as the staff at the Beaumont Municipal Tennis Center, who even with numerous rain delays and adverse conditions made this an amazing experience for all the student-athletes."

The Islanders will find out their opponent and where they will be traveling during the NCAA selection show on Tuesday, April 28 at 4:30 CST. Fans can watch it live on NCAA.com. The first and second rounds of the NCAA championships will be held May 7-10.

The Islanders have won the Southland Conference Tournament in 2004, 2008, 2009, 2011, 2013, 2014 and 2015.

"I'm very humbled and blessed to be a part of this exceptionally high-character tennis program," Moore added.

The Islanders clinched the No. 1 seed in the tournament after securing their eighth consecutive Southland Conference regular-season title with a 5-0 record. The Islanders who were ranked as high as No. 40 in the ITA Division I rankings this season, only allowed five points in Southland play this season, for a season record of 26-5. The Islanders have won 18 consecutive regular-season conference matches in four years and in the last eight years the Islanders have registered a 41-2 record in the Southland.

For all the latest on Islanders Tennis, like the team on Facebook (IslandersTennis) and follow them on Twitter and Instagram (@IslandersTennis). Fans can also receive updates on both teams by downloading the Islanders Front Row App at GoIslanders.com/frontrow.

Tennis Match Results

Lamar vs. Texas A&M - Corpus Christi

4/26/2015 at Beaumont, Texas

#60 Texas A&M - Corpus Christi 4, Lamar 2

Singles competition

1. Lis, Nikita (LU) def. #101 Peter Nagy (AMCC) 7-6 (7-5), 7-5

2. Kevin Bettendroffer (AMCC) def. Feucht, Michael (LU) 6-3, 6-4

3. Ricardo Mayagoitia (AMCC) def. Schweizer, Benny (LU) 6-2, 2-6, 6-3

4. Guillaume Rauseo (AMCC) def. Hoogenboezem, Jeandr (LU) 6-2, 1-6, 6-2

5. Javier Pujol (AMCC) def. Rajamaki, Mikko (LU) 6-1, 6-3

6. Paul Cook (AMCC) vs. Laitinen, Juuso (LU) 7-5, 1-6, 4-5, unfinished

Doubles competition