Islanders Down DePaul 4-0

CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas – Capping off the 51st H-E-B Tournament of Champions, Texas A&M-Corpus Christi rolled to a 4-0 win over DePaul Saturday morning to finish 2-1 on the weekend.
 
Playing an hour early to beat the rain moving into the area, the Islanders rode the momentum from senior Paul Cook's quick 6-2, 6-1 win to sweep DePaul.
 
The two teams started with singles play, the Blue and Green ensured there was no need for doubles action with wins at one, six and five to close out the match.
 
Gonzalo Achondo provided the Islanders their second point of the match at number six. The freshman rebounded from a tough stretch of late to win 7-6, 6-0 on Saturday.
 
Just moments after Achondo made it 2-0, it was senior Kevin Bettendroffer's turn to extend the lead. Playing at the top spot in the order, Bettendroffer fended off a tough Nathan de Veer in straight sets. Bettendroffer won his match by a 6-3, 7-5 score.
 
Bettendroffer's win left the Islanders with a 3-0 lead and in need of just a single point to clinch the match. Sophomore Carlos Pedrosa Cuevas would have the honors Satuday morning as he claimed the win at number five.
 
Pedrosa Cuevas swept past Tim Corwin in 6-4, 6-1 fashion. His victory gave the Islanders a 4-0 win to finish off their weekend at the H-E-B Tournament of Champions. When the match was halted, Cagatay Soke led 4-6, 6-4, 2-0 and William Mottet was on serve in a 6-3, 2-6, 3-4 match.

28th-ranked South Alabama captured the title at the 51st annual H-E-B Tournament of Champions as the Jaguars downed Pac-12 power Arizona in the Championship Match. South Alabama won in singles action, taking a 4-0 decision to win the crown.
 
MOORE THOUGHTS
 
On all that goes into the H-E-B…
"I don't know how you begin to say thank you enough to H-E-B for their generosity in creating and sponsoring this event for 51 years. That's how you make a community great – sponsoring events like this. It's one of the grand events in the history of Corpus Christi and is the longest-running college team tournament in the United States. The way I see this community come together, housing over 80 people and the Barres helping to organize that housing, H-E-B Tennis Center, the Corpus Christi Athletic Club, Gerald Tjon-A-Joe working back-to-back 20 hour days to make this tournament go. Then there's Hester's Café bringing us the best food we could ask for. A lot of people worked really, really hard to make this a great event so we want to thank those people and show them our genuine gratitude."
 
On the team's performance this weekend...
"We showed good character today – good leadership. I thought we bounced back and really showed fight and pride. This group is young, but they're improving. They're committed to being good and committed to working hard every day. There's not one guy on the team who I don't think is fully committed. They're a great group and we just have to develop them. I thought they took a big step forward this weekend and did a good job of controlling the things we can control. I think this team is going up."
 
On the win over DePaul...
"DePaul is good. A lot of these 4-0 wins, there's a lot more to it when you look at the scores. There were so many that could have gone the other way. It was about to be a 4-3 match. We beat some good teams and lost to a very good team in New Mexico State. We're getting better so I'm really happy with these young guys."
 

SOUTH TEXAS SHOWDOWN

The Islanders return to action on Tuesday, March 7, at 3 p.m. as they host the UTRGV Vaqueros as part of the South Texas Showdown presented by NavyArmy Community Credit Union.