Seahawk men’s tennis team wins CAA title

NORFOLK,VA (WWAY) — Capping one of the most memorable days in UNCW’s athletic history, the men’s tennis team upset top-seeded VCU, 4-3, late in the day in the finals of the Virginia 529 College Savings Plan CAA Men’s Tennis Championships to give the Seahawks three spring titles on Easter Sunday.

Just hours after the men’s and women’s golf teams captured conference championships in Pinehurst, N.C., the third-seeded men’s tennis team rallied past the 12-time champion Rams in a tight match at Old Dominion’s Folkes-Stevens Tennis Center.

The 46th-ranked Seahawks won their seventh straight match to push their record to 21-4 and, more importantly, secure the CAA’s automatic berth to the NCAA Regionals. It was UNCW’s second CAA title in the last three seasons – both over the 45th-ranked Rams, now 22-6.

“Every year that I’ve been here,” fourth-year coach Mait DuBois said, “we’ve either played VCU in the finals or they’re the team that’s knocked us out of the tournament. We were just a little bit tougher and a lot fitter this time around, and that was the difference.”

UNCW began its repeat of the 2009 event by taking the doubles point with victories at the No. 1 and No. 2 positions. The top team of Kinshuk Sharma and Chris Cooprider trimmed VCU’s Jamie Vazquez Catoira and Camill Salomon, 8-6, and the No. 2 team of Illia Ziamtsou and Kosta Blank clinched the point with an 8-5 verdict over Tim Johannsen and Antoine Baroz, 8-5.

The Seahawks split the six singles matches, but had to rally from a 3-2 deficit with a pair of three-set victories to pull the match out.

In singles, No. 4 player Rafael Aita, a freshman, gave the Seahawks a 2-0 advantage with a 6-4, 6-1, thumping of Catoira. But Johannsen, the CAA’s Co-Player-of-the-Year, closed the gap to 2-1 with a 6-0, 7-5, triumph over Sharma at No. 1 and the Rams pulled even when Alejandro Argente knocked off Ziamtsou, 6-2, 6-4, at No. 6 singles.

The Rams, who were appearing in the finals for the 15th time in the last 16 years, then took a 3-2 lead behind Max Wennakoski, who downed Michael Pereira, 6-3, 6-4, at No. 2 singles. That set the stage for two come-from-victories by a pair of sophomores that brought the CAA trophy back to Wilmington.

Cooprider won a tie-breaker in the second set and came all the way back for a 4-6, 7-6 (4), 6-1 triumph against Baroz at No. 3 singles. Blank then clinched the championship by outlasting Filip Svensson, 5-7, 6-2, 6-3, at the No. 5 slot.

“It was an outstanding performance from our three younger players in getting those singles wins,” added DuBois. “We jokingly called it our senior gift. For those young guys to step up in that type of pressure situation was an act way beyond their years. The poise that Chris and Kosta showed when it was tight was just remarkable.”

The Seahawks will be appearing in the NCAA Regionals for the second time in the last three years. In 2009, UNCW lost to Virginia Tech in the Athens Regional at the University of Georgia.

“We’re definitely deeper and a lot more seasoned this time,” DuBois noted. “We’ve got four guys on the team that have played in an NCAA Tournament before. We’ve had top 50 wins, and this team has been the NCAA’s, played in the indoors and played in some tough conference tournaments. They’ve definitely earned their stripes.”