ABILENE, Texas - Abilene Christian's men's tennis team begins its 2014 spring campaign on the road this weekend as the Wildcats head to Colorado Springs for matches vs. Metro State, Air Force, Grand Canyon and Northern Colorado.
The Wildcats' 10-man roster will play Metro State and Air Force Friday at 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. (MT), and Saturday will battle the Antelopes and Bears at 9 a.m. and 3 p.m. (MT).
Metro State is a D-II school based in the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference. Air Force is within the Mountain West. Northern Colorado is part of the Big Sky and Grand Canyon is in its first year as a member of the WAC.
ACU returns seven players from last year's squad that finished springtime with a No. 19 D-II national ranking. This group includes starters
Marco Bensley, Borja Cortes,
Guilherme Gesser,
Jason Proctor and
Nicklas Wingord. Cortes - a junior - and Wingord - a sophomore - tied for second on the team in wins last year with 14 singles' victories as each split their playing time over several positions.
Cortes recorded an excellent fall season in trying to establish himself as the Wildcats' new No. 1 player. The Barcelona native won 11 singles matches over four tournaments, which included a spot in the consolation finals of the ITA Texas Regional and reaching the finals alongside Wingord at the Tennessee-Chattanooga Fall Classic. He also placed third in his draw at an invitational hosted by New Mexico State.
Wingord went 7-7 in the fall as he scored three victories at the Racquet Club Invitational and UTC Fall Classic. The Buenos Aires native went 1-1 at ITA Texas Regionals as he followed a 6-1, 6-1 victory vs. Jeandre Hoogenboezem of Southland Conference rival Lamar with a straight-set loss to top-seeded Soren Hes-Olesen of Texas.
Freshman
Nico Agritelley - regarded as one of Texas' top-15 players in the 18U ranks - appeared in 10 singles matches and 12 doubles contests during his first fall with the Wildcats. He went 5-5 in singles, winning three times at New Mexico State to reach the White Draw finals, and challenged a pair of TCU players at the Racquet Club and ITA Regionals.
Agritelley's doubles partner for the entire fall was sophomore
Jason Proctor. Together they went 1-1 at UTC and Racquet Club and 2-2 at New Mexico State and ITA Regionals, where they beat teams from UT-Arlington and TCU.
Proctor - who played No. 4 and 5 singles in his first spring at ACU - went 5-6 in singles this fall, with a bulk of his wins coming at New Mexico State.
Gesser, last spring's No. 2 singles player, also went 5-6 in the fall and registered a 6-5 doubles mark with Cortes. Gesser and Cortes won the consolation final at UTC and loss in the consolation quarterfinals at ITA Regionals to a team from Texas.
