FORT MYERS, Fla. – The FGCU men's tennis team opens up its 2022 spring season this weekend as they welcome Binghamton and Troy to southwest Florida.
The weekend gets started on Friday evening when the Eagles will play the Bearcats before coming back on Saturday night to face the Trojans. Both matches will begin at 5 p.m.
In the ASUN preseason poll, FGCU was picked second, just behind defending champion Liberty. Last year, the Eagles finished second in the ASUN and 65th in the final ITA rankings, the highest the program has ever been.
Nine players return from last year's squad, led by redshirt-sophomore
Magnus Johnson (Naples, Fla./Homeschool/UCF) who went 9-3 at No. 1 last year and qualified for the NCAA Singles Championship. He also went 4-2 in singles action this past fall, including a win at the ITA All-American Championships.
Graduate student
Juan Montes (Pereira, Colombia/Colegio Lujan) and redshirt-sophomores
Randy Wilson (Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic/Miami Palmetto/Louisville) and
Guglielmo Stefanacci (Prato, Italy/International School of Florence) also all return for the Eagles after picking up a combined 21 wins between the three of them.
The only newcomer for the Green and Blue is Alabama-transfer
Marcelo Sepulveda who will look to build on a strong fall season which saw him go 3-1 in singles while also picking up two doubles wins.
Binghamton is led by sophomore Shourya Verma who picked up seven singles wins and six doubles wins in the fall. Junior Adi Ben Ari also had a solid fall season as he collected six singles victories.
Leading the pack for Troy is sophomore Carles Anton and senior Pelayo Antuna who each had seven singles wins last season at the No. 1 position. Anton also collected 17 doubles wins last season as well.
For complete coverage of FGCU men's tennis, follow the Eagles on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook at @FGCU_MTen and online at
www.FGCUAthletics.com. You can also sign up to have news on FGCU men's tennis or other programs delivered directly to your inbox by visiting
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CJ WEBER
FGCU is led by three-time ASUN Coach of the Year
CJ Weber, who has coached 32 ASUN All-Conference selections since joining the Green and Blue in 2011. In his seventh year, Weber has compiled a 103-87 (.541) overall record and a 43-19 (.672) record in ASUN play. In 2014-15, Weber guided the Eagles to their first-ever ASUN Championship and first-ever ASUN Regular Season title after a program-best 17 wins. In his third season, Weber led 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. The Eagles completed a perfect ASUN regular season in both 2015 and 2016, finishing with conference titles as well as a Coach of the Year honor for Weber. FGCU again won the 2017 ASUN Championship and made its second NCAA appearance. The Eagles returned to the mountaintop by claiming the 2019 regular season and tournament championships. Weber earned his third ASUN Coach of the Year honor and led the Green and Blue to their third trip to the NCAA Tournament.
E.A.G.L.E. CAMPAIGN
IT TAKES A TEAM to achieve our newest goal - a $10 million campaign to address student-athlete needs in continued academic success, life skills, mental health, nutrition, and strength and conditioning as well as departmental needs in facility expansion and improvement as well as mentoring and leadership training for coaches and staff. The name embodies our mission and the purpose of the E.A.G.L.E. Campaign - Eagle Athletics Generating Lifetime Excellence.
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#FEEDFGCU
FGCU Athletics sponsors events in November and April to benefit the FGCU Campus Food Pantry (
www.fgcu.edu/foodpantry) and the Harry Chapin Food Bank (
www.harrychapinfoodbank.org), FGCU Athletics' charities of choice. For more information, including how to make a contribution, please visit
www.fgcu.edu/foodpantry and utilize the hashtag #FeedFGCU to help raise awareness.
ABOUT FGCU
FGCU teams have combined to win an incredible 87 conference regular season and tournament titles in just 14+ seasons at the Division I level. Additionally, in just nine seasons of D-I postseason eligibility, the Eagles have had a combined 43 teams or individuals compete in NCAA championships. Eight FGCU programs have earned a top-25 national ranking in their respective sport - including women's basketball (No. 25, 2021-22), beach volleyball (No. 20, 2021) and both men's soccer (2018, 2019) and women's soccer (2018) as three of the most recent. In 2016-17, the Green and Blue posted a department-best sixth-place finish in the DI-AAA Learfield Directors' Cup and top-100 showing nationally, ahead of several Power-5 and FBS institutions. In 2018-19, the Eagles had an ASUN and state of Florida best seven teams earn the NCAA's Public Recognition Award for their Academic Progress Rate in their sport. FGCU also collectively earned a record 3.50 GPA in the classroom in the fall 2020 semester and has outperformed the general University undergraduate population for 24 consecutive semesters. The 2019 Fall, 2020 Spring, 2020 Fall, and 2021 Spring semesters each saw another milestone reached as all 15 programs achieved a 3.0-or-higher team GPA in each. The Eagles also served an all-time high 7,200 volunteer hours in 2017 - being recognized as one of two runners-up for the inaugural NACDA Community Service Award presented by the Fiesta Bowl.
