ALTAMONTE SPRINGS, Fla. --
Eldad Campbell's tennis hero is the world's No. 1-ranked player, Roger Federer, one of the most under-control players in the sport.
So it's no wonder that with his team needing two points to pull off a major upset Wednesday in the first round of the NCAA Division II national tennis tournament that the ACU redshirt freshman called on some of that Federer cool to help him get through his match.
It not only helped him get through his match, it gave him a win at No. 1 singles and it gave the No. 19 Wildcats (18-11) a huge 5-4 upset win over No. 6 Hawaii Pacific in the Round of 16 at the national tournament at Sanlando Park.
ACU's reward for advancing past the first round of the national tournament for the first time since 1998? A date Thursday at noon with No. 1-ranked Valdosta State, a 9-0 winner over the Wildcats back on April 2 in the Blue-Gray Classic in Montgomery, Ala.
But the Wildcats enter Thursday's match a confident group having gone 5-1 since that loss and carrying a five-match winning streak into the quarterfinal round.
Wednesday's match was filled with drama as the Wildcats jumped out to a 3-0 lead after doubles and then watched the Sea Warriors battle back to win three singles matches to knot the match at 3-3.
But
John Strahl came up with a big win over Aleksander Markov at No. 2 singles to push the Wildcats back in front at 4-3. But Dominic McIusky knocked off
Luke Hawk,4-6, 6-2, 6-4, at No. 4 singles to once again tie the match at 4-4.
That left Campbell and Hawaii Pacific's Nikola Petrov on the court to decide the match at No. 1 singles.
Petrov won the first set 6-4 and the two battled to a 5-5 stalemate in the second set before Campbell won the final two points to even the match with a 7-5 win. With Campbell leading 5-3 in the third set, Petrov held serve to cut the lead to 5-4. But tied at 30-30 and serving for the match, Campbell's right hand (serving hand) began severely cramping, forcing him to call a medical timeout.
"The immature thing at that point would have been for Eldad to just serve it out and try to get through the point as quickly as possible," ACU head coach
Hutton Jones said. "But Federer is his one of his tennis heroes, and he's a pretty cool competitor. I just told him during the timeout to go out and be Roger. What would he do in that situation? Use the timeout and then serve it out."
And that's exactly what Campbell did, going up 40-30 with a forehand winner and then clinching the match when Petrov hit his service return into the net.
Wednesday's win was a sweet victory for the handful of players on this year's team who experienced a 5-4 first-round loss to Georgia College last season. The Wildcats had several chances to win that match over the nation's No. 6 team, but couldn't pull it out. Wednesday, however, the Wildcats were able to finish off a win over a top-10- opponent.
"I keep telling these guys that with hard work and a little bit of luck that we would get one of these someday," Jones said. "It was great to see (today) because we've seen it go against us several time. But we earned this win because we've worked so hard. It was fun (today) to see them rewarded for all of their work."
Abilene Christian 5, Hawaii Pacific 4
Singles
1. Edad Campbell (ACU) def. Nikola Petrov (HPU) 4-6, 7-5, 6-4
2.
John Strahl (ACU) def. Aleksander Markov (HPU) 7-6 (7-4), 6-0
3. Daniel Luedi (HPU) def.
Alfredo Desiati (ACU) 6-0, 7-6 (7-5)
4. Dominic Mclusky (HPU) def.
Luke Hawk (ACU) 4-6, 6-2, 6-4
5. Sebastian Bader (HPU) def.
Bryan Joiner (ACU) 6-3, 6-3
6. Anton Samuilau (HPU) def.
Brett Proctor (ACU) 6-1, 6-0
Doubles
1.
Luke Hawk-
Bryan Joiner (ACU) def. Sebastian Bader-Dominic Mclusky (HPU) 8-4
2. Edad Campbell-
John Strahl (ACU) def. Daniel Luedi-Anton Samuilau (HPU) 8-5
3.
Brett Proctor-
Alfredo Desiati (ACU) def. Nikola Petrov-Aleksander Markov (HPU) 9-8 (8-6)
