Wildcats fall to No. 1 Blazers

Thursday, May 13

Altamonte Springs, Fla.

12 p.m.

Abilene Christian

Valdosta State

5/13/2010 3:21:01 PM | Men's Tennis

ALTAMONTE SPRINGS, Fla. -- The ACU men's tennis season came to an end Thursday afternoon as the top-ranked team in the country quickly dashed any upset plans with a 5-1 win over the Wildcats at Sanlando Park.

The Blazers of Valdosta State jumped out to a 2-1 lead after doubles and quickly wrapped up three singles matches to eliminate the Wildcats from the NCAA Division II national tournament in the quarterfinal round. ACU's season ends at 18-12 while the Blazers continue into Friday's semifinals.

One day after pulling off a huge upset of No. 6 Hawaii Pacific, the 19th-ranked Wildcats couldn't re-capture the magic as they ran into the tournament's buzzsaw in the Blazers.

Valdosta State's top two doubles won convincingly by the scores of 8-2 and 8-1, respectively, to give VSU a quick lead. Brett Proctor and Alfredo Desiati picked up ACU's only win of the day with an 8-6 win over Otto Lenhart and Frank Sickman at No. 3 doubles.

The Blazers then closed out the match with a win at No. 2 singles (6-0, 6-2 by Daniel Dueren over John Strahl), No. 5 singles (6-2, 6-0 by Konstantin Kutschenk over Bryan Joiner) and No. 6 singles (6-1, 6-1 by Michael Kuech over Brett Proctor).

Valdosta St. 5, Abilene Christian 1
Singles
2. Daniel Dueren (VSU) def. John Strahl (ACU) 6-0, 6-2
5. K. Kutschenko (VSU) def. Bryan Joiner (ACU) 6-2, 6-0
6. Michael Kuech (VSU) def. Brett Proctor (ACU) 6-1, 6-1

Doubles
1. Philip Pakebusch/Michael Kuech (VSU) def. Luke Hawk/Bryan Joiner (ACU) 8-2
2. Daniel Dueren/Christian Hansen (VSU) def. Edad Campbell/John Strahl (ACU) 8-1
3. Brett Proctor/Alfredo Desiati (ACU) def. Otto Lenhart/Frank Sickman (VSU) 8-6