ABILENE – Abilene Christian men's tennis finally bested Texas A&M-Corpus Christi for the first time in four seasons during the Wildcats' regular-season finale on a calm and cool Wednesday night at the Eager Tennis Center. ACU beat the nine-time Southland Conference regular season champions, 4-3, thanks to a clutch 7-5, 7-6 (8) victory by sophomore
Sebastian Langdon at the No. 6 line.
The win lifted ACU's season and conference records to 17-9 and 4-1, while the Islanders slipped to 14-8 and 3-1. If the Islanders beat Lamar in their season finale Friday in Corpus Christi, there will be a three-way tie for first place between the Wildcats, Islanders and Cardinals. ACU's lone Southland loss was to Lamar back on April 7, 5-2.
Langdon only has appeared in 14 of the Wildcats' 26 duals as he missed most of February with an injury, but since returning to the lineup in early March he is 6-2 in singles with four of those victories coming against Southland Conference opponents. He also recorded a masterful three-set comeback at No. 6 vs. Dartmouth in Houston, flipping a 5-1 deficit into 7-5 win that tied the team score at 3-3.
Jonathan Sheehy then won the final point at No. 2 in a 4-3 victory over the Big Green.
Tonight, however, it was the top of the order which paved the way for Langdon's heroics, because long before the sophomore from Grapevine, Texas reached crunch time in his match vs. Gonzalo Achondo, ACU's top three of Josh and
Jonathan Sheehy and
Nico Agritelley all had won in straight sets to give the Wildcats a 3-2 lead.
The elder Sheehy won at the top-line over Kevin Bettendroffer, 7-5, 6-4, to improve to 16-7 overall and 4-1 vs. the league, and his younger brother edged Cagatay Soke, 7-5, 7-6 for his eighth win in his last 10 matches. Agritelley also improved to 4-1 vs. the Southland on Senior Night, beating William Mottet, 6-4, 6-4.
After the Wildcats top-four players had cleared the courts, it came down to junior
Henry Adams at No. 4 and Langdon at No. 6 to deliver ACU its first win over the Islanders. Adams lost his first set to Carlos Pedrosa, 6-1, and despite a valiant comeback attempt, he fell 7-5 in the second set.
Langdon, meanwhile, won his first set 7-5, but was forced to keep battling back against Achondo. The Islanders' freshman led Langdon 5-4 and 6-5, but the Marcus High School graduate twice broke Achondo's serve in sending the set to a tiebreak. Once there the two competitors kept exchanging points until the very end when Landgon won the final three points, coming back from a 6-5 deficit to win, 8-6.
The Wildcats' four Southland Conference wins are their most since 2014, when they went 5-1 against a seven-team league that once included Oral Roberts. Their lone loss that year was to the Islanders (4-1), whose defeat tonight was only their second in conference play since the Wildcats joined the league. Their three-year unbeaten streak vs. the Southland was snapped last year by Lamar.
Slightly dampening the men's victory tonight was a 4-3 loss by ACU's women's team to the Islanders, which eliminated the Wildcats from Southland Conference championship consideration as they fell 2.0 games behind A&M-Corpus Christi (9-1) with one match remaining. All three of ACU's losses this season have been by one point, and this may have been the toughest of all the setback as the Wildcats lost a 1-0 lead after doubles and dropped a trio of singles matches in three sets.
The Wildcats were solid in doubles play. Juniors
Whitney Williams and
Lucile Pothier crusied past the tandem of Jelena Dzinic and Judit Vives at No. 1, 6-2, and at the No. 2 line, senior
Erin Walker and
Sarah Eleanor Adams were 6-1 victors over Hortense Boscher and Louise Trigona. Pothier and Williams remain undefeated together against the Southland at 6-0, while Adams and Walker improved to 12-3 overall (3-1 vs. the Southland).
The Wildcats soon went up 3-1 in singles as both Pothier and Williams were successful once again at the No. 2 and 3 lines, respectively. Pothier doubled up Dzinic, 6-3, 6-3 for her 14th win of the spring, and Williams toppled Vives, 6-0, 6-2 for win No. 17.
Unfortunately that lead would eventually vanish as the Wildcats lost their last three singles matches in falling to the Islanders for the third time in the past four years.
The women finish their regular season with a make-up contest vs. Stephen F. Austin, which is set for this Saturday at 2:30 p.m. at the Arlington Tennis Club. The men will be in action next week at the Ojai Invitational. The Wildcats have been part of the Ojai field the past three springs, winning several doubles and singles titles along the way.
Texas A&M-Corpus Christi 4, Abilene Christian 3
Apr 19, 2017 at Abilene, Texas (Eager Tennis Center)
Singles competition
1. Hortense Boscher (AMCC) def.
Erin Walker (ACU) 6-0, 6-7, 6-4
2.
Lucile Pothier (ACU) def. Jelena Dzinic (AMCC) 6-3, 6-3
3.
Whitney Williams (ACU) def. Judit Vives (AMCC) 6-0, 6-2
4. Louise Trigona (AMCC) def. Sarah Adams (ACU) 6-1, 3-6, 6-4
5. Maria Maldonado (AMCC) def.
Autumn Crossnoe (ACU) 6-0, 2-6, 6-3
6. Marina Vicens Miquel (AMCC) def.
Jordan Henry (ACU) 6-0, 7-5
Doubles competition
1.
Whitney Williams/
Lucile Pothier (ACU) def. Jelena Dzinic/Judit Vives (AMCC) 6-2
2. Sarah Adams/
Erin Walker (ACU) def. Hortense Boscher/Louise Trigona (AMCC) 6-1
3.
Autumn Crossnoe/
Jordan Henry (ACU) vs. Maria Maldonado/Marina Vicens Miquel (AMCC) unfinished
Match Notes
Texas A&M-Corpus Christi 16-2 (9-1 SLC)
Abilene Christian 16-6 (7-3 SLC)
Abilene Christian 4, Texas A&M-Corpus Christi 3
Apr 19, 2017 at Abilene, Texas (Eager Tennis Center)
Singles competition
1.
Josh Sheehy (ACU) def. Kevin Bettendroffer (AMCC) 7-5, 6-4
2.
Jonathan Sheehy (ACU) def. Cagatay Soke (AMCC) 7-5, 7-6
3.
Nico Agritelley (ACU) def. William Mottet (AMCC) 6-4, 6-4
4. Paul Cook (AMCC) def.
Hunter Holman (ACU) 6-4, 6-4
5. Carlos Pedrosa (AMCC) def.
Henry Adams (ACU) 6-1, 7-5
6.
Sebastian Langdon (ACU) def. Gonzalo Achondo (AMCC) 7-5, 7-6 (8-6)
Doubles competition
1. Kevin Bettendroffer/William Mottet (AMCC) def.
Henry Adams/
Nico Agritelley (ACU) 7-6
2. Paul Cook/Cagatay Soke (AMCC) def.
Jonathan Sheehy/
Josh Sheehy (ACU) 6-3
3. Paul M. Domanski/
Cole Lawson (ACU) vs. Mitchell Cook/Maximilian Ilic (AMCC) 6-6, unfinished
Match Notes
Texas A&M-Corpus Christi 14-8 (3-1 SLC)
Abilene Christian 17-9 (4-1 SLC)
