This post is courtesy of C. J. Weber, Men's Tennis Coach at Florida Gulf Coast University
Dear fans and supporters of FGCU Men’s Tennis:
Dear fans and supporters of FGCU Men’s Tennis:
Well, we couldn’t quite get it done this last weekend [April 17 - 19] up in
Jacksonville, but the guys gave it a heck of a try at the A-Sun Championships! I
know many of you were following the results, and I can’t thank you enough for
your congratulations throughout the weekend and all of your support throughout
the entire year.
After breezing through Mercer in the first round by winning
4-0, we knew we had a huge challenge ahead of us, playing against the #2 seed
and host UNF. Although we have never beaten UNF in program history, the air was
whispering ‘upset’ all weekend, and we really thought we were going to be able
to pull away with that one to play for our first conference title.
After many
weather delays and plenty stoppages of play, we ultimately lost the match 4-2
with our hearts broken and bodies and minds exhausted. After winning the
doubles point (Jordi and Dean beat their first nationally ranked team ever…and
Bao and Lance came back from a 5-7 deficit to win in a tiebreaker to remain a
flawless 5-0 in tiebreakers all season!), it appeared that we were sitting in a
great spot; but we were only fortunate enough to claim one of the singles spots
before the other four came to a dramatic halt.
Senior Gabe Echeverry was left
on the court early in a third set tiebreaker, and we’re most certain he would
have come away with the W in that one. The overall match couldn’t have been
much closer, as the singles alone lasted over 3 hours.
But the season is over, and it’s time to reflect back on
another great year. So many program firsts, so many individual accomplishments,
and so many team accomplishments, I will probably forget several of them, but
here goes nothing!
Maybe most importantly and most excitingly, you guys (our
fans) put us in the national spotlight in fan attendance in February by being
ranked top 5 in the country in average attendance of all three of our matches
in February!!! Wow, is that something special, and I can’t wait to see how we
can continue to build things here as we make enhancements to our facility in
trying to increase the fan experience.
Our conference record this year in the regular season was
6-2, and I can’t help but think about the freshman year of the current seniors
when they went 1-9 in the conference! What a turnaround in such a short amount
of time, and it couldn’t be a better testament to their hard work and
determination to grow and build this program. 6-2 is the best record FGCU has
ever seen in the A-Sun, and it is the most total number of wins as well.
We were
seeded 3rd in the tournament, the highest seed we have ever had. We
beat Stetson on Senior Day, which had never been done before (and hopefully
this is the start of trying to even that series after starting down 0-7).
Senior Dean Tsamas became the winningest player in FGCU Division I
history with 62 total singles wins!!!
Wow, won’t that guy be missed…not only by
myself and his teammates, but also by our fans. To watch his grit and
determination on the court every day was really something special! Another
senior Gabe Echeverry won a title for the Eagles back in the fall by winning
the Georgia Southern Championships! Bao made 1st Team All-Conference
for the first time in his career, moving up from Freshman of the Year his first
year, to 2nd Team last year, and now to 1st Team. I can’t
wait to see what he’ll surprise us with next year. And Jordi has a seemingly
endless list of accomplishments this year.
After posting a 34-4 record on the
season, he is currently ranked #50 in the country, the highest of any FGCU
player in its Division I history, and his 10-0 record in the conference was
good enough to make him the A-Sun Conference Player of the Year! Not to mention,
he made the All-Academic Team with his 3.51 GPA as well as the All-Tournament
Team for his efforts this past weekend!
And let’s not forget his quarterfinal
run in Regionals last fall, and we will NEVER forget his magical run to the
championship of the Dick Vitale Invitational in Lakewood Ranch when he beat
the likes of Minnesota, Virginia, Duke, and Princeton! And how about Jordi and
Bao playing in the FINALS of our home invitational against each other in the
singles draw and WITH each other in the doubles draw! That was something
special!
And to cap it all off, Jordi will be looking forward to ‘taking
his talents to Athens, GA’ as he will undoubtedly qualify for the NCAA Singles
Tournament, which takes the top 64 singles players in the country, so they can
all battle it out for an individual national championship! The tournament
starts on 5/21, so wish us luck…and maybe even a couple fans might be
interested in making the trek up there to watch him play???
Thanks once again for your continued support of this
program! It’s been a really fun ride these past 3 years, and I can’t wait to
see what is in store for the future yet. Maybe with a little bit more
improvement next year, we can somehow take home that coveted conference title,
and bring FGCU its first conference championship! But for now, I hope everybody
has a great summer, and is looking forward to just a little bit of relaxation
as I am (but not until Jordi is complete with his run at NCAA’s of course!)
Take care, and GO EAGLES!!!
C. J. Weber
Head Men’s Tennis Coach| Florida Gulf Coast University
No comments:
Post a Comment