Friday, September 9
Nacogdoches
Abilene Christian
at
Stephen F. Austin Invitational
Fall Seasons Start Friday
9/8/2011 11:51:00 AM | Men's Tennis, Women's Tennis
Aggie Invitational Singles Bracket | Aggie Invitational Doubles Bracket
ABILENE – The Abilene Christian men's and women's fall tennis seasons begin Friday. The men will travel with head coach Hutton Jones to New Mexico State's Aggie Invitational, while assistant coach John Walker will bring the ladies to Nacogdoches for the Stephen F. Austin Invitational.
Both events feature several NCAA DI an II schools that will keep the Wildcats sharp as they seek to build a solid foundation in preparation for ITA Regionals. Arizona and New Mexico are among the four schools the men will face in Las Cruces. Play begins Friday with first round doubles at 10 a.m. MT. For Sunday's finals, play starts at 9 a.m. and concludes by noon.
The SFA tournament consists of McNeese State, Tarleton State, and Collin College in addition to the host Ladyjacks, and will be split into four singles draws and two doubles draws of eight. Every singles' player and doubles' team is guaranteed three matches over the weekend. Play is slated to begin at 9 a.m. Friday morning at the Schlief Tennis Complex.
“This and next week's tournaments will get us fined tuned for bigger events,” said Jones, who is entering his 16th season as ACU's head coach. “I like the look of what we have … but if we don't have a quality fall as individuals, it's not going to feel good heading into team competition in the spring.”
Jones believes both Wildcats teams will be better than last year even though each program recorded 20 or more wins, won their respective conference and regional titles, combined for four All-Americans and finished sixth in the national rankings.
Returning to lead the men's team is ITA National Rookie of the Year Hans Hach, who after winning regional singles and doubles titles last fall went on to place fifth at the national tournament and posted a 19-5 spring record from the No. 1 position. His doubles play was equally superb as he and several partners lost just four of 27 matches.
Hach finished the season ranked No. 15 in the nation in singles play. He and former ACU teammate Jake Hendrie were a combined 14-2 in doubles play to finish sixth in the country.
“Hans is a special player,” Jones said. “I don't get to coach many players like him in a career. He had to overcome a lot of adversity to finish top 20 in singles and top 10 in doubles, but he did it all in his first year.”
On the women's side, Jones is looking to All-American Julia Mongin for leadership. Mongin finished eighth nationally in singles after compiling an 18-6 record, helping the Wildcats advance to the NCAA DII tournament for the 15th straight season. But she heads into fall searching for a new doubles partner to replace three-time All-American Jaclyn Walker, with whom she posted a 20-4 record on their way to a No. 5 national ranking.
A potential partner for Mongin is her twin sister Laura, a junior transfer from Delta State. As a sophomore last spring, Laura played exclusively at No. 1 doubles and went 11-6 with three partners while registering an 11-2 mark at No. 1 singles.
Laura Mongin is one of three newcomers along with true freshmen Felicity Delgado of San Antonio and Brittney Reed of Richland, Wash. Returnees in addition to Julia Mongin include senior Cassie Carver, junior Hannah Kelley, and sophomores Emily Conrad, Micah Hermsdorf and Madelyn Walker. The six Wildcat returners posted a combined singles record of 86-31 last spring.
Jones said it's going to be hard to replace Jaclyn Walker, but if the women's team matures quickly enough, he believes they'll be better than last year.
“We're deeper than ever, but some people need a little time to adjust to the intensity of the program,” he said. “But if this team matures, then not only could we beat last year's team in a dual, but we'll also keep challenging for titles.“
The men's team is equally deep behind Hach with five experienced teammates returning to the fold, including junior Alfredo Desiati and seniors Cody McCarty, Nick Plum and John Strahl. Desiati won 17 games between No. 3 and 4 singles a year ago, while Strahl won 11 times at No. 5.
Plum went 5-4 in singles last spring, but showed his strengths as a doubles competitor by registering a 20-10 record between five partners. He is expected to pair with Hach this fall at the No. 1 spot.
“Nick is a great doubles player,” Jones said. “He'll give us a great chance to win at the top seed, and maybe even at the fall regional.
“And John (Strahl) has been a staple of the lineup and is another guy capable of going deep at national tournaments. As a sophomore he held down the No. 2 and 3 spots and went to the national quarterfinals, and then last year he played well at No. 5. I'm not sure where's he's going to play this spring just because we're about eight deep in the top six, but I'm confident he'll be somewhere in the lineup – we're going to see a nice battle for those spots.”
Jones plans to add one more freshman to the spring roster, but will start the fall with Brazilian Guilherme Gesser, Michael Morris and Nick Plum's younger brother, Kyle.
“I've never had four freshman on the team at once,” Jones said. “It just kind of happened that way, and I'd like to think I'll see all of them in the lineup over the next four years. We're in a good situation.”
Complete recaps of both the men's and women's tournaments will be posted at ACUSports.com following Sunday's action.
ABILENE – The Abilene Christian men's and women's fall tennis seasons begin Friday. The men will travel with head coach Hutton Jones to New Mexico State's Aggie Invitational, while assistant coach John Walker will bring the ladies to Nacogdoches for the Stephen F. Austin Invitational.
Both events feature several NCAA DI an II schools that will keep the Wildcats sharp as they seek to build a solid foundation in preparation for ITA Regionals. Arizona and New Mexico are among the four schools the men will face in Las Cruces. Play begins Friday with first round doubles at 10 a.m. MT. For Sunday's finals, play starts at 9 a.m. and concludes by noon.
The SFA tournament consists of McNeese State, Tarleton State, and Collin College in addition to the host Ladyjacks, and will be split into four singles draws and two doubles draws of eight. Every singles' player and doubles' team is guaranteed three matches over the weekend. Play is slated to begin at 9 a.m. Friday morning at the Schlief Tennis Complex.
“This and next week's tournaments will get us fined tuned for bigger events,” said Jones, who is entering his 16th season as ACU's head coach. “I like the look of what we have … but if we don't have a quality fall as individuals, it's not going to feel good heading into team competition in the spring.”
Jones believes both Wildcats teams will be better than last year even though each program recorded 20 or more wins, won their respective conference and regional titles, combined for four All-Americans and finished sixth in the national rankings.
Returning to lead the men's team is ITA National Rookie of the Year Hans Hach, who after winning regional singles and doubles titles last fall went on to place fifth at the national tournament and posted a 19-5 spring record from the No. 1 position. His doubles play was equally superb as he and several partners lost just four of 27 matches.
Hach finished the season ranked No. 15 in the nation in singles play. He and former ACU teammate Jake Hendrie were a combined 14-2 in doubles play to finish sixth in the country.
“Hans is a special player,” Jones said. “I don't get to coach many players like him in a career. He had to overcome a lot of adversity to finish top 20 in singles and top 10 in doubles, but he did it all in his first year.”
On the women's side, Jones is looking to All-American Julia Mongin for leadership. Mongin finished eighth nationally in singles after compiling an 18-6 record, helping the Wildcats advance to the NCAA DII tournament for the 15th straight season. But she heads into fall searching for a new doubles partner to replace three-time All-American Jaclyn Walker, with whom she posted a 20-4 record on their way to a No. 5 national ranking.
A potential partner for Mongin is her twin sister Laura, a junior transfer from Delta State. As a sophomore last spring, Laura played exclusively at No. 1 doubles and went 11-6 with three partners while registering an 11-2 mark at No. 1 singles.
Laura Mongin is one of three newcomers along with true freshmen Felicity Delgado of San Antonio and Brittney Reed of Richland, Wash. Returnees in addition to Julia Mongin include senior Cassie Carver, junior Hannah Kelley, and sophomores Emily Conrad, Micah Hermsdorf and Madelyn Walker. The six Wildcat returners posted a combined singles record of 86-31 last spring.
Jones said it's going to be hard to replace Jaclyn Walker, but if the women's team matures quickly enough, he believes they'll be better than last year.
“We're deeper than ever, but some people need a little time to adjust to the intensity of the program,” he said. “But if this team matures, then not only could we beat last year's team in a dual, but we'll also keep challenging for titles.“
The men's team is equally deep behind Hach with five experienced teammates returning to the fold, including junior Alfredo Desiati and seniors Cody McCarty, Nick Plum and John Strahl. Desiati won 17 games between No. 3 and 4 singles a year ago, while Strahl won 11 times at No. 5.
Plum went 5-4 in singles last spring, but showed his strengths as a doubles competitor by registering a 20-10 record between five partners. He is expected to pair with Hach this fall at the No. 1 spot.
“Nick is a great doubles player,” Jones said. “He'll give us a great chance to win at the top seed, and maybe even at the fall regional.
“And John (Strahl) has been a staple of the lineup and is another guy capable of going deep at national tournaments. As a sophomore he held down the No. 2 and 3 spots and went to the national quarterfinals, and then last year he played well at No. 5. I'm not sure where's he's going to play this spring just because we're about eight deep in the top six, but I'm confident he'll be somewhere in the lineup – we're going to see a nice battle for those spots.”
Jones plans to add one more freshman to the spring roster, but will start the fall with Brazilian Guilherme Gesser, Michael Morris and Nick Plum's younger brother, Kyle.
“I've never had four freshman on the team at once,” Jones said. “It just kind of happened that way, and I'd like to think I'll see all of them in the lineup over the next four years. We're in a good situation.”
Complete recaps of both the men's and women's tournaments will be posted at ACUSports.com following Sunday's action.
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