ABILENE – Abilene Christian's nationally ranked men's and women's tennis teams head east this weekend to the gulf coast city of Pensacola, Fla., and the campus of West Florida for a series of dual matches vs. Auburn-Montgomery, New Orleans and host Argonauts.
The Wildcats will face the Warhawks Friday at 11 a.m. before going up against West Florida Saturday at 10 a.m. ACU completes its weekend with a 9 a.m. match Sunday vs. its future Southland Conference rivals from UNO.
West Florida of the Gulf South Conference has a men's team that's ranked third in the country and women's squad that's ranked ninth led by No. 27 singles player Monika Kochnova. Kochnova also is one half of a No. 10 doubles tandem with Nina Bubelova.
The Argonauts' men's team claims four nationally ranked singles players and the No. 4-ranked doubles team of Bruno Savi and Kevin Ducros. As individuals, Savi and Ducros are ranked third and eighth, respectively.
Auburn-Montgomery is recognized as one of the top NAIA programs and has won a combined 21 national titles between its men's and women's teams. The UAM men won their most recent national championship in 2010, and this season have three players ranked among the top 15 as well as two of the top three doubles combinations. The Warhawks No. 1 ranked duo is comprised of No. 2-ranked singles player Nicolas Pinones and No. 6 Tim Hewitt.
UAM's women's team has won the last two NAIA championships and 10 since 2000. This year's squad is off to a 10-7 start and is led at the top of its lineup by No. 1 Jade Curtis and No. 2 Tiffany Williams.
New Orleans, which is in its first year in the Southland Conference, has a 9-9 record on the men's side and 7-10 mark from its women's team.
ACU's women's team begins its final weekend of the regular season with a No. 5 national ranking and overall record of 19-5. The Wildcats' most recent result was a lopsided 8-1 defeat of No. 18 Cameron, which extended their winning streak to seven and gave them another undefeated season vs. the Lone Star Conference.
Against the Aggies, ACU won all three of its doubles matches to improve to 55-10 (.846) on the season, and captured five of six singles matches. Seniors
Julia Mongin and
Hannah Kelley pushed their individual winning streaks to six, while freshman
Kaysie Hermsdorf earned her team-leading 14th victory of the year.
Of the 10 players on this year's women's roster, six have won 11 or more matches, while the three others have combined for a 25-13 (.658) record. Overall, the Wildcats have won close to 73 percent of its singles matches (102-38), which includes a 26-4 mark vs. the LSC and 35 wins between the No. 1 and 2 positions.
ACU's 19th-ranked men's team, however, lost to the Aggies, 5-4, which dropped its season record to 12-12.
The Wildcats lost two close matches in doubles that gave Cameron a 2-1 lead at the break, but they certainly had their chances to take the lead during singles. Senior
Alfredo Desiati tied the score at 2-2 following his win at No. 6 over Joao Fazendeiro, but ACU quickly fell behind again when Dennis Merdan topped sophomore
Guilherme Gesser at No. 3.
The remaining four matches all went to a third set with sophomore Borja Cortes and senior
Hans Hach rallying from a set down to win their matches at No. 5 and 1 singles, however, those came only after the dual had been clinched. Cortes beat Lencioni 3-6, 6-3, 7-6, while Hach – who is ranked sixth in NCAA Division II – won his Regional Championship rematch vs. No. 20 Nicolai Ferrigno, 4-6, 7-5, 6-2.
Hach has won his last three matches in improving to 14-6 on the season, while in doubles he owns a team-best 15 victories.
