Photo Album
WACO, Texas – A two-championship season came to a close Saturday for the Texas A&M-Corpus Christi men's tennis program as it fell to second-ranked Baylor 4-0 at the NCAA Championship at the Hurd Tennis Center.
The Islanders (19-5) were going toe-to-toe on several courts before the Bears (30-4) ultimately clinched the match.
"It's tough to see this season end for this special, high character team. It was such a blessing to coach this group all year. They fought today with all their hearts and stood for every good value that a team could stand for! They cheered for each other until they lost their voices and competed like absolute tigers. Every time we lost a set we immediately fought back and were up in the next set. We never quit, even against a team that was ranked No. 1 in the nation for much of the year! The Islanders team is not for everybody, but only for the most high character, team-first and hardcore players – and that's exactly who were today, and that's exactly who they've been all year. I can honestly say that this is one of the most special, highest character groups that we've ever had the privilege to coach," said head coach
Steve Moore.
After the Bears took the doubles point, the Islanders showed tremendous resiliency in singles. At No. 2 singles, freshman
Ryuya Ata won the first set 6-3 against the No. 11 ranked singles player in the nation Matias Soto.
At No. 3 singles, freshman
Pascal Lorieul found himself in a back-and-forth battle. He dropped the first set 6-4 after leading for most of the way, but stood his ground in the second and was ahead 4-3. Lorieul, the SLC Freshman of the Year, ended the season with a perfect 15-0 singles record.
Another battle was ongoing on court three with freshman
Nathan Schwartz. He dropped the first set 6-0 but punched back in the second. The set was in a tiebreaker when Baylor clinched.
It was the ninth NCAA Tournament appearance for the A&M-Corpus Christi men. The Islanders won both the Southland Conference regular season and postseason championships and earned the automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament.
A&M-Corpus Christi Tennis
- 13 NCAA Tournaments
- 28 SLC Championships
- 4 Top-40 National Rankings
- 3.0 GPA 31 Straight Semesters
- Islanders have received a No. 3 seed at the NCAA Tournament three times
- Women's tennis has cracked the ITA top-75 national rankings three times
- Men's tennis has cracked the ITA national rankings 10 consecutive years
- Ranked nationally in NCAA DI as high as No. 35 for the men and No. 60 for the women
No. 2 Baylor 4, A&M-Corpus Christi 0
Doubles Competition
1. #9 Sven Lah/Constantin Frantzen (BU) def.
Kyohei Yamanaka/
Ryuya Ata (AMCC) 6-2
2. #75 Nick Stachowiak/Matias Soto (BU) def.
Nathan Schwartz/
Pascal Lorieul (AMCC) 6-0
3. Charlie Broom/Finn Bass (BU) vs.
Borja Delgado/
Carlos Berna Ruiz (AMCC) 5-2, unfinished
Singles Competition
1. #21 Adrian Boitan (BU) def.
Kyohei Yamanaka (AMCC) 6-3, 6-1
2. #11 Matias Soto (BU) vs.
Ryuya Ata (AMCC) 3-6, 6-2, unfinished
3. Sven Lah (BU) vs.
Nathan Schwartz (AMCC) 6-0, 6-6 (3-1), unfinished
4. Nick Stachowiak (BU) vs.
Pascal Lorieul (AMCC) 6-4, 3-4, unfinished
5. Charlie Broom (BU) def.
Borja Delgado (AMCC) 6-2, 6-3
6. Spencer Furman (BU) def.
Guillermo Castaneda (AMCC) 6-1, 6-1
Stay Social
For more information on Islanders Tennis, follow the team on Twitter (
@IslandersTennis), Instagram (
@IslandersTennis) and like their Facebook page (
Islanders Tennis).
#ShakasUp
