BEAUMONT, Texas – The Texas A&M-Corpus Christi men's tennis team will make its return to the NCAA Tournament after punching its ticket by taking down No. 1 UIW 4-X and winning the 2026 Southland Conference Championship.
It is the first time since 2023 that the Islanders reign as SLC Tournament Champions, but it marks their 11
th all-time tournament title and trip to the NCAAs. It takes their total championship count to 24 which extends their stance as one of the winningest programs in the league across all sports.
It will be the 18
th NCAA Tournament appearances for Islanders Tennis, combined with the women's team. The trophy also extends the program's streak of championships, with 2026 making 17 straight seasons that Islanders Tennis has won a title.
And it came against the top-seeded team of UIW who just the week prior had won a narrow 4-3 decision in the regular season matchup. This time, it was the Islanders who came out victorious with the bonus of an extended postseason on the sport's biggest stage.
Similar to the regular season contest, the Islanders got ahead of the Cardinals early with the doubles point advantage.
Matthieu Coignet/
Mikel Garmendia took care of business with a quick 6-1 win at No. 1 before
Ethan Dasset/
Josef Zapletal closed out at No. 3 6-3 to secure the early lead.
Though unlike the regular season contest, this time singles play went the way of the Islanders in the pivotal match and it came quickly as court four through six all reached their dual victories within points of each other. Zapletal dominated at No. 5 in a 6-0, 6-1 contest and was followed up by No. 4 of
Ethan Dasset who turned in a pair of 6-3 sets.
Maxime Salesses had the honor of clinching, doing so in a 6-4, 6-0 score to take the celebration to court six.
After the match, the All-Tournament team was announced during the awards ceremony and Zapletal was named the MVP. He and Dasset made the All-Tournament Doubles Team, and Zapletal was also on the All-Tournament Singles team along with
Etienne Marty and Salesses.
The Islanders will await their NCAA destination with the selection show set for Monday night.
All-Tournament Team
Doubles Team
Ethan Dasset and
Josef Zapletal, AMCC
Singles Team
Alejandro Hernandez, UIW
Emilio Vila, UIW
Etienne Marty, AMCC
Maxime Salesses, AMCC
Josef Zapletal, AMCC (MVP)
A&M-Corpus Christi Tennis
- 17 NCAA Tournaments
- 38 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
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