HAMMOND, La. – In the inaugural Southland Conference Individual Tennis Championships, The Texas A&M-Corpus Christi men's tennis team swept the men's bracket in singles and doubles play following the finals matches Sunday at the Southeastern Tennis Complex.
Seniors
Tom Berry and
Harry Fouzas got the championship day started, and took down No. 1 Pablo Perez Ramos/Will Jenkins (NJIT) 6-4, 6-4 to clinch the doubles title. All of their wins together came in straight sets this weekend.
Berry/Fouzas, who entered the weekend unseeded, defeated No. 3 Fabian Anthin/Leon Nickel (Lamar) 6-1, 6-4 in the quarterfinals and Matthew Ambruster/Sep de Visser (New Orleans) 6-3, 7-5 in the semifinals en route to the championship match.
Senior
Nathan Favier was part of the last finals match to be played this weekend, facing No. 1 Pablo Perez Ramos from NJIT. It took three sets, but Favier came out on top of the battle in a 7-5, 3-6, 6-4 decision to secure the singles title over the 2023-24 SLC Tournament MVP.
Favier was the No. 3 seed this weekend and opened with a victory over Leon Nickel (Lamar) 6-2, 3-6, 6-2 in the quarterfinals before beating No. 2 Emilio Vila (UIW) 6-3, 6-1 in the semifinals. Favier has gone undefeated this fall against Southland Conference opponents.
"Tom, Harry, and Nathan exuded what the Islander fighting spirit is all about! They played with so much heart the entire weekend. They cheered for each other and lifted each other up in such a special way! Every Islanders helped pull them through including our women's team and Coach Manuel and Coach Emma did an incredible job! Tom, Harry, and Nathan have improved as much in two months as just about anyone I've every coached. They have such great character and do all the things you appreciate as a coach: care about the team, selfless, positive and uplifting, strongest work ethic, and they come to play and compete with special tenacity! They were great ambassadors for Islanders Tennis this weekend!" said head coach
Steve Moore.
All three Islanders have now earned the league's automatic qualifier to the 2024 ITA Conference Masters Championship on Nov. 7-10. From this, four players will qualify for the NCAA Singles Championship (semifinalists). Meanwhile, three doubles teams will qualify for the NCAA Doubles Championship through the Conference Masters (champion, finalist, third place).
"I want to thank Southeastern, Coach Jason Hayes, and the Southland Conference for putting on such a top-notch event for this inaugural championship! Once again, the Southland did all the "excellence extras" and produced one of the best tournaments in the country!" said Moore.
The full tournament results from the weekend can be viewed
here.
A&M-Corpus Christi Tennis
- 17 NCAA Tournaments
- 35 SLC Championships
- 4 Top-40 National Rankings
- 3.0 GPA 43 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
#ShakasUp
