CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas – The Texas A&M-Corpus Christi men's and women's tennis teams started the new season off strong, winning multiple flights at the Jake Frederick Memorial Islander Open over the weekend at the Thomas J. Henry Tennis Center.
The women saw freshman
Yana Mykytyn win Flight B singles, while Flight C singles saw an all-Islanders unplayed matchup between freshmen
Juliette Jalai and
Kseniya Ramanouskaya.
The men had senior
Nathan Favier win the topflight in singles. Other singles flight winners were senior
Harry Fouzas in Flight C, sophomore
Matthieu Coignet in Flight E, and senior
Tom Berry in the Flight D west draw.
Coignet and sophomore
Nicholas Niox Chateau paired to win Flight C doubles in the west draw with a 7-6 (6) decision over UIW's Marcel Miralles and Christian Cuellar.
"This was an amazing tournament honoring one of the great men in Corpus Christi, Jake Frederick! It was wonderful to see his father and brother come our as well as Marines Jay Wise and his son to honor Jake!
"The tennis was incredible, I thought our team competed with great tenacity and team unity! Our goal was to play every present point with intensity and stay with our process! I saw a lot of Islanders strive hard to do that! We are growing and improving every day, and I love the heart and character of this team!" said head coach
Steve Moore.
Mykytyn won her finals match 6-4, 7-6 (3) over conference opponent Asta Miettinen from Lamar. It came after she cruised to a pair of wins over two Texas A&M-Kingsville players, only dropping four games between the two matches.
Favier dominated the top flight, winning his opening match 6-1, 6-3 over Agustin Salazar from UTRGV before moving on to the finals with a 6-1, 6-0 victory over Petro Kuzmenok from Rice. In the final, he took down Daniel Linkuns-Morozovs of Abilene Christian with a 6-1, 6-0 decision.
Fouzas defeated Yazid Lahjomri from UT-Arlington 6-4, 7-5 in the Flight C finals while Coignet beat Rice's Joshua Mandelbaum in a third-set tiebreak 10-6 to win Flight E.
"Without a doubt, one standout for the Islanders was
Nathan Favier, who won the top flight in singles! I also thought
Juliette Jalai,
Yana Mykytyn,
Harry Fouzas, and the doubles team of Mathieu Coignet and Nicolas Niox Chateau all played tough! I thought every Islander really fought with all their heart, and every player came with the right mental attitude to fight and lift up the team. It's a grind to host a three-day event like this and associate head coach
Olga Bazhanova deserves a huge shoutout as tournament director, as does our athletic trainer Jerry Hilker, our coaching staff, and facility staff!" said Moore.
Jake Frederick was an Islanders Tennis player who joined the team in 2002 and later became an F-18 Marine pilot. Jake was beloved in the Corpus Christi community as he and his brother, Joel, played tennis for the Islanders and went on to become Marine pilots! Sadly, in 2016, Jake gave his life for his country during a flight over the Pacific Ocean.
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
