SAN ANTONIO – Incarnate Word men's tennis won its first Southland Conference title and dashed Abilene Christian's hopes of repeating as regular-season champions Saturday following the Cardinals' 7-0 victory at the Mabry Tennis Center.
UIW will enter the upcoming conference tournament as its No. 1 seed with a 5-0 record, while the No. 2 seed likely will be decided Monday between 3-1 ACU and 2-1 Texas A&M-Corpus Christi. The league's top four team's on the men's side compete for the league's at-large bid to the NCAA Championship the weekend of April 27.
ACU lost the doubles point with both their top-line teams falling by matching 6-4 scores, and in singles, recent Southland Conference Players of the Week Gabriel Evans and Francisco Bendana helped seal the championship victory with wins at No. 1 and 2 over brothers Josh and
Jonathan Sheehy.
Bendana earned the match-clinching point with his 6-3, 7-6 triumph over Jonathan at No. 2, and Evans held off Josh at No. 1, 6-4, 3-6, 7-5 to preserve the shutout victory. Josh's loss was his first in singles since Feb. 24 at No. 18 Baylor – a span of six matches.
"They (UIW) have only beaten us twice in the last 22 years," said head coach
Hutton Jones, "but they have a very good team this season. The match was really close and they just got us at every turn, so we look forward to seeing them again in two weeks at the conference tournament."
The Wildcats and Islanders play Monday at 2 p.m. in Corpus Christi.
UIW 7, Abilene Christian 0
4/14/2018 at San Antonio, Texas (Mabry Tennis Center)
Singles competition
1. Gabriel Evans (UIW-M) def.
Josh Sheehy (ACU) 6-4, 3-6, 7-5
2. Francisco Bendana (UIW-M) def.
Jonathan Sheehy (ACU) 6-3, 7-6
3. Sebastian Mortier (UIW-M) def. Niko Moceanu (ACU) 7-6, 6-2
4. Joey Vatanadilok (UIW-M) def.
Henry Adams (ACU) 6-3, 6-1
5. Ivanhoe Lissanevitch (UIW-M) def. Paul M. Domanski (ACU) 4-6, 6-4, 10-8
6. Caleb Dyer (UIW-M) def.
Hunter Holman (ACU) 6-3, 1-6, 10-6
Doubles competition
1. Gabriel Evans/Sebastian Mortier (UIW-M) def.
Josh Sheehy/Paul M. Domanski (ACU) 6-4
2. Francisco Bendana/Joey Vatanadilok (UIW-M) def.
Henry Adams/
Jonathan Sheehy (ACU) 6-4
3. Caleb Dyer/Ivanhoe Lissanevitch (UIW-M) vs.
Brad Gleason/
Cole Lawson (ACU) 5-4, unfinished
Match Notes
Abilene Christian 14-9, 3-1 SLC
UIW 11-9, 5-0 SLC
Order of finish: Doubles (1,2); Singles (4,3,2,1,6,5)
UIW clinches first Southland Conference title
