SAN ANTONIO, Texas – With the opportunity to secure a regular season championship, the Texas A&M-Corpus Christi men's tennis team will go up against UIW Tuesday at 12 p.m. at the Mabry Tennis Center in a battle of the undefeated.
The Islanders (15-5, 2-0 SLC) and the Cardinals (17-3, 3-0 SLC) are the only two teams untouched in conference play, with the matchup determining a regular season champion by the end of it. For the Islanders, they need to win the head-to-head to secure at least share of the title before the possibility of claiming it outright in their regular season finale against Lamar.
The men will be seeking their 13
th regular season title and third in the last four seasons. Their 12 regular season crowns already lead the Southland Conference among any past or current tennis members, with one of the most decorated programs among all sports in conference history combining for 34 championships after the women won this year's regular season title Monday.
A&M-Corpus Christi already has a pair of 5-2 conference wins this year, topping Nicholls and the reigning regular season champions of New Orleans. It will be the Islanders' first match back in action in over two weeks.
Senior
Avery Zavala, a two-time SLC Player of the Week, is putting together another stellar season as the veteran is unblemished at both No. 1 singles and No. 1 doubles, where he has partnered with sophomore
Etienne Marty.
Three other Islanders remain 2-0 in conference play, including fellow returner
Lucas Schurdevin who has won both his singles duals from court three. Freshmen
Iannis Fernandes and
Nicolas Trebuchet also hoist the 2-0 record from courts four and six, respectively.
Since 2007, the men are 100-24 all-time against Southland Conference members under head coach
Steve Moore. The Islanders are 11-1 all-time over UIW.
The last time the two teams met, the Islanders defeated the Cardinals 4-2 in the SLC Semifinals before going on to eventually secure the tournament title and advance to the NCAA Tournament.
A&M-Corpus Christi Tennis
- 16 NCAA Tournaments
- 34 SLC Championships
- 4 Top-40 National Rankings
- 3.0 GPA 41 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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