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CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas – The 2021-22 started off with a bang for the Texas A&M-Corpus Christi men's and women's tennis programs as they combined to win four flights and were leading in two other championships matches before a rain-out in the season-opening Contender CrossFit Islander Open.
The men played at the H-E-B Tennis Center and the women at the Thomas J. Henry Tennis Center over three days Friday, Saturday and Sunday.
The champions for A&M-Corpus Christi were junior
Ulysse Bertrand/sophomore
Borja Delgado (Flight C Doubles), sophomore
Nathan Schwartz (Flight B Singles), junior
Matthieu Peres (Flight C Singles) and junior
Jordan Ortega-Mendez/sophomore
Leopoldine Boisseau (Flight C Doubles). Additionally, Boisseau was up a set and leading in the second in the finals of Flight E singles, while sophomore
Kateryna Rublevska was one game away from winning Flight G singles.
"The Contender Crossfit Islander open was one of the first national collegiate events of the year! It was really an honor for the Islanders to host this great event for the 16th year in a row! We had some great teams play and great competition! The level was really high and this tournament just keeps getting bigger and better," said head coach
Steve Moore. "Incredible gratitude to David Harris, Contender CrossFit and the Corpus Christi community! You learn a lot early on about the character of your team and what you have to work on! This team has great character and I'm so excited for our future together! Everyone left proud of their effort but knowing we have a lot of hard work to do! A lot of focused, high energy, gritty practices to improve what we need! But I love the character of this team and I know they're excited to do it."
The Islanders persevered through rainy conditions Sunday and withstood several delays before ultimately cancelling four women's finals. Boisseau was up 6-3, 4-3 after posting wins over Texas A&M-Kingsville and Sam Houston. Rublevska was ahead 6-4, 5-1 after ousting student-athletes from North Texas and UTSA.
"I'm so proud of the heart, grit and camaraderie from the Islanders staff! A tournament usually gets canceled with seven rain delays, but this group worked and worked and made it happen! One of the most important character attributes a student-athlete can learn is gratitude! And I assure you every player on every team had tremendous gratitude for the Islanders staff including facilities, trainers, sports information directors because without them – we don't play," Moore said.
In women's doubles, Boisseau and Ortega-Mendez cruised through the Flight C bracket. They crushed a UTRGV team 8-1 and then Lamar 6-2 in the semifinals. The duo won the draw with a 6-3 decision in the finals over North Texas.
On the men's side, Bertrand and Delgado topped a Lamar pair 6-3 in the semifinals and a UT Tyler team 6-4 in the championship. It was the first competition that the two have played together.
In men's singles, Schwartz took down Garrett Skelly (UTSA) in straight sets 6-2, 6-4 before outlasting Alvaro Saint Martin (TJC) 6-3, 6-1. In the finals, he beat his second TJC opponent Diego Garcia 6-4, 6-1.
In his first appearance as an Islander, Peres did not disappoint. He won a pair of straight-set matches over TJC and UIW before coming back to defeat Max Amling (Lamar) 5-7, 6-4, 12-10.
Other noteworthy performances from the tournament included sophomore
Emma Aucagne reaching the finals of Flight A women's singles, sophomore
Pascal Lorieul/Schwartz grabbing third in Flight B men's doubles, sophomore
Emma Honore/Aucagne earning third in Flight B women's doubles, Honore placing third in Flight D women's singles and Ortega-Mendez finishing third in Flight F women's singles.
Prior to Saturday's matches, all schools at the tournament took a moment of silence in honor of 9/11.
Next up, the women will be in action next weekend when they compete in the Lamar Tournament in Beaumont, Texas.
A&M-Corpus Christi Tennis
- 13 NCAA Tournaments
- 28 SLC Championships
- 4 Top-40 National Rankings
- 3.0 GPA 33 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
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