Seahawks capture sixth CAA tennis title

ELON, NC (UNCW SPORTS) — It’s déjà vu all over again for the UNCW men’s tennis team. And in a good way.

The No. 3-seeded Seahawks rolled past top-seeded William & Mary, 4-2, early Sunday at Elon’s Jimmy Powell Tennis Center to win back-to-back Colonial Athletic Association championships for the second time in the last six years. UNCW defeated W&M in last year’s finale by an identical score on the same court.

UNCW, now 19-4, grabbed the early doubles point and then added three single victories for its fourth CAA crown in the last six years. W&M finished its season with a 13-11 mark.

“I’m just really proud of these guys,” said 11th-year UNCW Head Coach Mait DuBois. “They’ve worked hard all year and stayed focus to get back to the NCAA Tournament. Elon and William & Mary really came at us. They were tough matches, but we hung tough and stayed the course.

“We’ve worked hard every day to get back to the NCAA Tournament. These guys worked very hard to get here.”

Making its eighth CAA championship match appearance, UNCW used its superior depth and another year’s worth of experience to turn back the Tribe for the second straight year.

In doubles, UNCW’s top tandem of Raphael Calzi and Ignasi de Rueda raced past the Tribe’s Alec Miller and Tristan Bautil, 6-2, to get things rolling and the No. 2 team of Andres Torres and Michael Morphy clinched the point with a 7-5 verdict over W&M’s Michael Chen and Brenden Volk.

The Tribe evened the score at 1-all in singles, however, when No. 1 player Christian Cargill defeated Andres Torres in straight sets, 6-4, 6-1.

But junior Agustin Savarino downed Miller, 6-2, 6-4, at No. 2 singles to give the Seahawks a 2-1 edge until pesky W&M squared the match again with a victory at No. 6 singles.

Sophomore Daniel Groom, playing No. 5 singles, gave the Seahawks the lead for good by trimming the Tribe’s Sebastian Quiros, 6-3, 6-4, setting up the clincher by sophomore Ignasi de Rueda. The Barcelona, Spain, netter edged W&M’s Louis Newman, 7-6 (3), 7-5, at the No. 3 position to give the Seahawks yet another CAA title.

De Rueda finished the three-day event undefeated in singles and doubles, amassing a 6-0 record. He went 3-0 in both singles and doubles in wins over Charleston, Elon and W&M.