Corpus Christi stays atop Southland with win over men's tennis

Men's Tennis | 4/4/2016 10:10:00 PM

ABILENE - Abilene Christian's weekend-long four-match road trip played out like a video game as the strength of each opponent increased substantially with each passing day. And on Monday the Wildcats went to war with the Southland Conference bosses from Texas A&M-Corpus Christi.

The Wildcats got in their shots,  won several sets, and pushed the Islanders to the brink in four matches, but the eight-time defending champions once again reigned supreme in handing the Wildcats a 5-2 defeat at the Thomas J. Henry Tennis Center.

The victory lifted Corpus Christi's overall record to 14-6 and they remain tied with Lamar at 3-0 for first place in the Southland. The Wildcats, meanwhile, fell to 17-8 and 2-2 after having to play the league's two best teams on back-to-back days.

The Islanders, by comparison, came into today's contest on five-days rest, and won't play their next match until Friday against 7-10 Incarnate Word. They will then have five days to prepare for their first-place showdown at Lamar.

While the scheduling of Southland tennis matches is sometimes a mystery, head coach Hutton Jones and his Wildcats will never complain about who and where they have to play. This is a program forever used to playing doubleheaders in multiple-cities or even competing four times within two days.

Accustomed to this kind of workload,  the Wildcats today showed no signs of exhaustion in starting the match with three absolute battles on the doubles courts.

Freshmen Josh Sheehy and Sebastian Langdon were first off after doubling up the Islanders' No. 3 duo of  Paul Cookand Javier Pujol, 6-3, but Corpus would soon even the score at No. 2 as Ricardo Mayagoitia and Guillaume Rauseo held onto to defeat Jason Proctor and Paul Domanski, 7-5.

Domanski missed Sunday's dual with an illness, and did not play singles today for the third-consecutive match.

With the doubles score knotted at 1-1, ACU's top-line duo of sophomore Henry Adams and Nico Agritelley prevailed in the tiebreak over Kevin Bettendroffer and Arthur Bedel, 7-6 (9), for their first league win together.

Agritelley would again win in singles, beating Pujol at the No. 3 position, 7-6, 3-6, 6-4, to keep his team's chances of a victory alive just a little bit longer. The junior Wildcat has won his last two decisions and is 8-2 over his last ten matches, including a 3-1 mark vs. league opposition.

Unfortunately for Agritelley and ACU, the Islanders came out of the break swinging and started singles play with three consecutive wins at No. 2, 4 and 6.  Senior Jason Proctor lost his once-perfect conference record to Mayagoitia, 6-3, 6-4, and at No. 4, Holman's five-match winning streak was snapped by Guillaume Rauseo, 7-5, 7-5.

Langon, who was starting his third-straight match at No. 6 after only playing six singles contests between January and March, started well with a 6-4 win over Cook, but the Islander junior rallied behind scores of 7-5 and 6-4.

Following Agritelley's win, which cut ACU's deficit to 3-2, Sheehy was outlasted by Bettendroffer at No. 1 in a marathon performance from both competitors, 6-7 (5), 6-2, 7-6 (10).  Bettendroffer's victory served as the match clincher and improved his record at No. 1 singles to an impressive 15-1.

In the final match to be determined, Arthur Bedel topped Adams at No. 5 in another three-set thriller, 3-6, 7-6 (8-6), 6-4.

After rolling through four opponents in three cities in five days, the Wildcats have themselves a deserved break and won't return to action until Wednesday, April 13 when they play their old NCAA DII rivals from Midwestern State. The dual is scheduled to start at 5 p.m.
 

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Texas A&M-Corpus Christi 5, Abilene Christian 2
4/4/2016 at Corpus Christi, Texas (Thomas J. Henry Tennis Center)

Singles competition
1. Kevin Bettendroffer (AMCC) def. Josh Sheehy (ACU) 6-7 (5-7), 6-2, 7-6 (12-10)
2. Ricardo Mayagoitia (AMCC) def. Jason Proctor (ACU) 6-3, 6-4
3. Nico Agritelley (ACU) def. Javier Pujol (AMCC) 7-6, 3-6, 6-4
4. Guillaume Rauseo (AMCC) def. Hunter Holman (ACU) 7-5, 7-5
5. Arthur Bedel (AMCC) def. Henry Adams (ACU) 3-6, 7-6 (8-6), 6-4
6. Paul Cook (AMCC) def. Sebastian Langdon (ACU) 4-6, 7-5, 6-4

Doubles competition
1. Henry Adams/Nico Agritelley (ACU) def. Kevin Bettendroffer/Arthur Bedel (AMCC) 7-6 (9-7)
2. Ricardo Mayagoitia/Guillaume Rauseo (AMCC) def. Jason Proctor/Paul Domanski (ACU) 7-5
3. Josh Sheehy/Sebastian Langdon (ACU) def. Paul Cook/Javier Pujol (AMCC) 6-3

Match Notes
Abilene Christian 17-8, 2-2
Texas A&M-Corpus Christi 14-6, 3-0
Order of finish: Doubles (3,2,1); Singles (2,4,6,3,1,5)
A-243