ABILENE – Abilene Christian men's tennis won its 18th match of the spring and fourth-straight against the Southland Conference following Saturday's 5-2 win over Texas A&M-Corpus Christi at the Eager Tennis Center. The Wildcats now need to win their last league match at home on Friday, April 12 against last year's champions from Incarnate Word in order to capture their second league regular-season title in three years.
The Islanders dropped to 13-8 overall after losing their conference lid-lifter but are still highly regarded as the gold standard of the Southland Conference, having reached 10 NCAA Tournaments in program history. They also will play host to the league's tournament April 26 to 28, the winner of which receives the Southland's automatic qualifying bid to the NCAA Championship.
ACU started today's match in a similar fashion to Friday's contest vs. Lamar, earning that crucial doubles point in nail-biting fashion. In a battle between siblings at the top line, Wildcat brothers Josh and
Jonathan Sheehy upended the Kellermans, Francois and Okkie, 7-5, and at No. 3, junior
Nikolas Moceanu and
Riley Tran pulled off an incredible comeback to topple Carlos Pedrosa and Thibault Frumholz by the same score.
Josh and Jon Sheehy have won their last four doubles matches together in improving to 6-4, while Moceanu and Tran own the Wildcats' best winning percentage at 7-1. They are 5-0 at No. 3 and 2-0 vs. Southland opposition.
Going into singles with that one-point advantage, the Sheehys quickly pushed that advantage to a 3-0 lead with back-to-back straight-set decisions at the top-two positions. Jon defeated Thomas Rodrigues, 6-4, 6-1, to snap a two-match losing streak, and Josh conquered William Mottet, 6-4, 7-5, to climb to 15-4. Josh also is 4-0 against the league.
The Wildcats would drop their next two points at No. 3 and 4, allowing the Islanders to creep back into the dual at 3-2, but the first-year Wildcats
Akinori Wada and Tran each bounced back in their respective third sets.
Wada held off Frumholz, 6-4, 3-6, 7-5, for the match-clinching point, and Tran followed with a 6-1, 5-7, 6-2 decision over Okkie Kellerman. Tran is second to
Josh Sheehy and
Dimitris Azoides with 13 wins and has been perfect against league competition. Wada has played in fewer matches but still claims a commanding 7-1 spring record with three Southland wins.
With four victories today, ACU's 10 singles players own a combined 85-43 (.664) record, while their 14 doubles tandems are 34-20 (.630).
Abilene Christian 5, Texas A&M-Corpus Christi 2
Apr 06, 2019 at Abilene, Texas (Eager Tennis Center)
Singles competition
1.
Josh Sheehy (ACU) def. William Mottet (AMCC) 6-4, 7-5
2.
Jonathan Sheehy (ACU) def. Thomas Rodrigues (AMCC) 6-4, 6-1
3. Francois Kellerman (AMCC) def.
Nikolas Moceanu (ACU) 6-1, 3-6, 6-0
4. Carlos Pedrosa (AMCC) def.
Dimitris Azoides (ACU) 6-3, 6-3
5.
Riley Tran (ACU) def. Okkie Kellerman (AMCC) 6-1, 5-7, 6-2
6.
Akinori Wada (ACU) def. Thibault Frumholz (AMCC) 6-4, 3-6, 7-5
Doubles competition
1.
Josh Sheehy/
Jonathan Sheehy (ACU) def. Francois Kellerman/Okkie Kellerman (AMCC) 7-5
2.
Cole Lawson/
Jackson Fine (ACU) vs. Thomas Rodrigues/William Mottet (AMCC) 6-6, unfinished
3.
Nikolas Moceanu/
Riley Tran (ACU) def. Carlos Pedrosa/Thibault Frumholz (AMCC) 7-5
Match Notes
Texas A&M-Corpus Christi 13-8 (0-1 SLC)
Abilene Christian 18-4 (4-0 SLC)
Order of finish: Doubles (1,3); Singles (2,1,3,4,6,5)
T-3:00 A-100
