FORT MYERS, Fla. – Coming off a successful spring break trip in California where the team gained a tremendous amount of experience playing under pressure, the FGCU men's tennis team (7-5) will play its last two non-conference matches, hosting East Carolina on Thursday, Mar. 12 and Southern Mississippi on Saturday, Mar. 14. Both matches are slated for a fan-friendly 5 p.m. start time.
The match against Southern Mississippi will be a PINKOUT match. The Eagles are encouraging all fans to wear pink and will be accepting donations for the American Cancer Society. Informational material will be available at the marketing table. FGCU will also be selling pink t-shirts for $10 and pink "Wings Up For the Cure" pins can be purchased for a donation of any amount with all proceeds going to the American Cancer Society.
"We're excited to host two teams that FGCU has never played," said head coach
CJ Weber. "It's always exciting to get new teams on the schedule, and I'm looking forward to these last two matches of preparation before our conference season gets underway. Both are good teams, and it will be fun in front of our home crowd."
LAST TIME OUTFGCU took the show to the Golden State to take on a trio of challenging opponents in No. 61 Cal Poly, UC Santa Barbara and No. 72 UC Irvine. The Eagles coughed up a pair of 4-3 defeats against the Mustangs and the Gauchos before turning the tide with a 4-3 upset win against the Anteaters.
During the contest against No. 61 Cal Poly, FGCU dropped a close doubles point, in the No. 3 slot, the junior duo of
Lucas Vaz (Sao Paulo, Brazil/Colegio Fleming/Tulsa) and
Ricky Ventura (Barcelona, Spain/University of Barcelona) forced the match into a tiebreaker, however the Mustangs ousted the Eagles in the breaker to earn the doubles point. In singles action, Cal Poly quickly jumped out to a commanding 3-0 lead after a pair of wins in the No. 4 and 6 slots. FGCU fought back with all its might, winning in the No. 1 and 3 slots to trim the deficit to 3-2. The Mustangs regrouped and put away the Eagles with a three-set victory in the No. 2 slot.
Two days later against UC Santa Barbara, FGCU once again dropped the doubles point after falling in a close contest in the deciding No. 3 slot. In the singles contest, both teams were trading blows as the match came down to the No. 3 singles match. The Gauchos stayed focus to claim the deciding match and handed the Eagles their third 4-3 defeat in a row.
In its last match on the West Coast, FGCU took on No. 72 UC Irvine under the lights at the prestigious Newport Beach Tennis Club. Playing in front of the UC Irvine fans, FGCU entered the doubles contest with fearless spirit, winning the doubles point with authority before powering through three more singles victories, including a match-clinching win from
Andres Alfonzo (Hollywood, Fla./Texas Christian University) in the No. 2 slot. During the course of the contest both players were playing on a high level, and the momentum shifted back-and-fourth between the two. Alfonzo claimed an easy 6-3 first set, but quickly fell behind in the second, trailing 3-0 with a break. Alfonzo held his serve, then broke Mertens' serve to even the set. However, Mertens displayed his shot-making skills late in the second set to claim a 7-5 score. Both players started out the third set dropping their first service game, but Alfonzo was the one who stayed collected to jump out to a 3-1 lead. Mertens stayed aggressive on the court, but a string of unforced errors were the dagger as Alfonzo cruised to a 6-2 victory, and a 4-3 results for the Eagles.
The Decorated DuoThe senior co-captains of
Jordi Vives (Barcelona, Spain/IES Ferran Tallada/USC) and
Tianyu Bao (Tianjin, China/Bayshore HS (Bradenton, Fla.)) are arguably one of the most successful duos in program history. Bao has produced solid and consistent results in the last three and half years for the Eagles. After transferring from University of Southern California, Vives has established himself as one of the best players from the Southeast region in his three years as an Eagle.
Jordi Vives•
Second FGCU player to reach a combination of 100 wins.
• Winningest Division-I singles player for FGCU
• Second winningest DI doubles player for FGCU
• Two-time Atlantic Sun First-Team All Conference (13' 14')
• Reigning Atlantic Sun Player of the Year (14')
• Reached a program-high ITA No. 35 in the 2014 spring season, the highest ranked player from Florida.
• Claimed the program's first NCAA win over then-No. 114 Philippe Tsangaridis of Coastal Carolina in the 2014 NCAA Championship
• The Southeast's recipient of the 2014 ITA Arthur Ashe Jr. Leadership & Sportsmanship Award
• Won total of four individual titles (FGCU Fall Invite singles 13' 14'. FGCU Fall Invite doubles 14'. Dick Vitale Intercollegiate Clay Court Classic 14')
• Currently owns 108 wins (41 doubles, 67 singles)
Tianyu Bao • Third FGCU player to reach a combination of 100 wins
• Winningest Division-I doubles player for FGCU
• Third winningest DI singles player for FGCU
• Atlantic Sun Freshman of the Year (12')
• Atlantic Sun Second Team All Conference (13')
• Atlantic Sun First Team All Conference (14')
• Won back-to-back FGCU Fall Invite doubles champions (13', 14')
• Currently owns 101 wins (45 doubles, 56 singles)
FEELING THE GROOVEJunior transfer Ventura is putting together an impressive spring slate for FGCU as the Barcelona, Spain native is currently 9-3 in singles play. Ventura finished the California trip with a 2-1 singles record with a pair of wins against No. 61 Cal Poly and No. 72 UC Irvine. After falling against Christian Gonzalez Mendez of No. 31 Florida State in the season opener, Ventura has won seven matches in a row, highlighted by a dominating win over Bernard Tefel of then-No. 71 Miami with a score of 6-1, 6-0, before his win streak was snapped against Chris Barrus of UCF two Saturdays ago. His seven-match win streak is the second longest in the program history, trailing only behind senior
Jordi Vives' 14 match win streak set in the 2013-14 campaign.
NATIONAL RANKINGSAfter missing the entire fall season due to an injury, Vives has made an incredible comeback during the young spring season as the senior co-captain is ranked No. 107 in the nation in the third installment of the ITA Division 1 Singles Ranking.
Of his nine wins in the spring dual season, Vives bested three quality opponents, including a 7-6 (3), 6-3 decision over No. 17 TCU's Arnau Dachs, who is one of the Horned Frogs primary singles players, and cross-state rival FAU's Andrei Morin-Kougoucheff with a score of 5-7, 6-3, 6-2, as well as a win over Hassan Ndayishimye of Troy 6-4, 7-5, who is currently ranked 954 in the ATP World Tour Rankings.
#ASUNMTEN PLAYER OF THE WEEKAfter an undefeated home-opening weekend for the Eagles, sophomore
Andres Alfonzo was named Atlantic Sun Conference Men's Tennis Player of the Week for the first time in his career four weeks ago. Vives would earn A-Sun Player of the Week honors the following week after rejoining the national rankings at No. 107, helping the FGCU men's tennis team improve to 5-1 and becoming the winningest player at FGCU in the D-I era. After a 5-1 individual record in both singles and doubles action, Vives earned his second A-Sun Player of the Week award of the season this Wednesday, highlighted by a comeback win against Ben Donovan of Cal Poly. Vives came back from four match-points down to outlast his opponent 6-2, 4-6, 7-5.
SCOUTING ECUEast Carolina comes into Thursday's contest with a record of 9-7 (1-0 AAC). The Pirates were on a seven-match win streak before UNF snapped the streak this past Sunday.
The Pirates' singles lineup is very fluid, but Nicolas Soriano has produced a team-best 3-5 record in the No. 1 slot, while Tendai Tapfuma also saw playing time in the No. 1 slot, going 2-1. Tendai Tapfuma and Colin Roller lead ECU's doubles lineup. Roller, a Land O'Lake, Fla. native who qualified for the 2013 NCAA Doubles Championship with former teammate Joran Vilegen, is currently 9-4 on the season with Tapfuma.
SCOUTING SOUTHERN MISSSouthern Mississippi comes into the weekend with a 10-4 record. Winning six out of last seven contests, Southern Miss. has boasted some big wins, including a 4-2 triumph over PAC-12 foe Arizona.
Tarun Surat occupies the Golden Eagles' No. 1 singles slot with a 4-7 record, while Chao-Yu Huang and Wen-Po Tseng are 5-5 in the No. 1 doubles slot.
NEXT UPFGCU will travel to Georgia and South Carolina to open up the Atlantic Sun Conference slate as the Eagles take on Kennesaw State on Mar. 19 at 1 p.m., and USC Upstate on Mar. 21 at 2 p.m.
CJ WEBERFGCU is led by CJ Weber, who has coached 10 A-Sun All-Conference selections since joining the Green and Blue in 2011. In his third season, Weber guided Jordi Vives to a No. 35 national ranking, a nation-leading 14-match unbeaten streak and the round of 32 in the 2014 NCAA Tournament – the program's first appearance. His teams have continually posted winning records and finished the 2014 season a Division-I best third in the conference with 12 wins. #WINGSUPFans are encouraged to download the brand-new Wings Up mobile app in conjunction with SuperFanU. The fully-customized loyalty-rewards platform allows fans to check in at each of FGCU's sporting events to earn points throughout the school year toward exclusive prizes that can't be offered anywhere else. FOLLOW ALONGFor complete coverage of FGCU men's tennis follow us on Twitter @FGCU_MTEN and visit www.FGCUAthletics.com where full recaps and results will be available at the end of each day.
