2012-13 Peach Belt Conference Yearbook | Page 24

OFF TO ARIZONA! No. 1 Armstrong Men’ s Tennis Defeats No. 17 Georgia College, 6-0

SAVANNAH, Ga.- The top-ranked and defending NCAA Division II national champion Armstrong Atlantic State University men’ s tennis team is headed to the Round of 16 after a 6-0 victory over No. 17 Georgia College on Monday morning at Bacon Park.

The Pirates( 24-1) head to Surprise, Ariz., with an eye on retaining the title and claiming the program’ s fourth title in the last six years after knocking off the Bobcats( 19-7) for a second straight year in the Southeast Region final. Armstrong will match up against New York Tech in the NCAA Round of 16 on Wednesday, May 8, at 10:00 a. m. in Arizona.

Armstrong started off strong with three doubles wins to take a 3-0 lead heading into singles play. The top-ranked doubles duo of Dan Regan and Georgi Rumenov defeated Andreas Ainalides and Johan Wadstein, 8-3, at No. 1 doubles, while the No. 6-ranked duo of Sven Lalic and Pedro Scocuglia beat Wictor Andersson and Yannick Hass, 8-5, at No. 2

First Team Doubles Sven Lalic & Pedro Scocuglia, Armstrong Adam Jonsson & August Iwdal, Lander Daniel Regan & Georgi Rumenov, Armstrong

Second Team Doubles Alex Caspari & Gavin Davison, Francis Marion Victor Cabellos & Victor Guimaraes, Augusta State Felipe Friedrich & Matheus Guida, North Georgia

First Team Singles Paul-Henri Arrigoni, Lander Alex Caspari, Francis Marion Felipe Friedrich, North Georgia Matus Mydla, Armstrong Daniel Regan, Armstrong Georgi Rumenov, Armstrong

Second Team Singles Andreas Ainalides, Georgia College Gordan Divljak, Columbus State Matheus Guida, North Georgia Sven Lalic, Armstrong Pedro Scocuglia, Armstrong Vincent Verpeaux, Lander Johan Wadstein, Georgia College

Player of the Year Georgi Rumenov, Armstrong

Freshman of the Year Yannick Hass, Georgia College

Coach of the Year Simon Earnshaw, Armstrong

doubles. Matus Mydla and Jaan Kononov completed the doubles sweep with an 8-3 win over Mattia Campus and Alex Schubert.

The Pirates then claimed three singles wins- two simultaneously- to clinch the match. Pablo Gor picked up a quick 6-0, 6-2 win over Andersson at No. 6 singles, then No. 5-ranked Mydla and No. 11-ranked Regan each had match point on courts one and three. Mydla downed No. 48-ranked Wadstein, 6-2, 6-1, and Regan beat Hass, 6-0, 6-2, on concurrent match points to clinch the victory and send the Pirates to Arizona.

Armstrong makes its ninth straight NCAA Round of 16 appearance and is looking to add a fourth overall national title after claiming the crown in 2008, 2009 and 2012.

NCAA Selects Seven PBC Men’ s Tennis Teams for Championship

INDIANAPOLIS, IND – Seven Peach Belt Conference men’ s tennis teams will be given the opportunity to compete for a national championship as the NCAA released the bracket from the national office in Indianapolis. Armstrong Atlantic State and Columbus State will each host sub-regionals and are the top two seeds in the southeast. Lander is the # 3 seed with Georgia College fourth, Francis Marion fifth, Augusta State sixth and USC Aiken seventh. Five teams will compete in Savannah while four will journey to Columbus. The seven PBC teams selected ties the league record for the most to play for an NCAA title.

The Pirates( 22-1) will begin defense of their NCAA national title by taking on the winner of eighth-seeded Limestone( 18-7) and ninth-seeded Lincoln Memorial( 14-5), who play on Saturday, April 27th, in a 2:00 p. m. first-round match. The winner faces the Pirates on Sunday, April 28, at 2:00 p. m., while the other Sunday match pits fourth-seeded Georgia College( 18-6) and fifth-seeded Francis Marion( 15-8) in another 2:00 p. m. tilt.

This is the sixth consecutive trip to the NCAAs for the FMU men, and the 17th in the past 19 years. The Patriots are 13-16 all-time in NCAA tournament competition. Francis Marion won a regional title in 2008, lost in the regional semifinals in 2009 and 2011, and advanced to the regional title match in 2010.

Georgia College has now made the NCAA Regionals for the seventh consecutive year. The Bobcats defeated the Patriots 8-1 when they met earlier in the year.

It is the sixth straight season that Columbus State has reached the NCAA Tournament and the fourth consecutive season that the Cougars have hosted a regional. The men’ s regional in Columbus will begin on Saturday, April 27 with the Cougars taking on seventh-seeded and 30thranked USC Aiken at 9:00 a. m. CSU defeated USCA 7-2 earlier this season in Columbus.

Ranked 30th nationally, USC Aiken enters the NCAA Southeast Regional with a record of 11-8 on the 2013 season. Columbus State is currently 17-3 on the season. The Pacers and Cougars already tangled once this season with the then nationally seventh-ranked Cougars able to hold off the upset-minded and then nationally 23rd-ranked Pacers, 7-2, on Sunday, March 3 in Columbus, Ga. at the Mary V. Blackmon Tennis Center.

The Augusta State men’ s squad will be making its 12th appearance all-time, its 10th in the last 13 seasons and its eighth in the last nine years when they face Lander in the first round.

Lander won eight straight national championships from 1993 to 2000 and are 15-3 this season and are ranked # 7 in the nation. Lander reached the PBC Tournament semifinals where they fell to Columbus State 5-4 and then went on to win the 3rd-Place match over Georgia

College 5-2.

Elite 15 Award Adam Jonsson, Lander Patrick Stiebinger, USC Aiken

Honorable Mentions: David Espinosa, Flagler; Bruno Orlandini, USC Aiken; Tim Ruepke, Francis Marion; Evgeniy Vinogradov, Georgia Southwestern; Lennart Wemcken, Flagler

Armstrong’ s Rumenov; Lander’ s Verpeaux Receive Men’ s Tennis National Honors

SURPISE, AZ – Armstrong Atlantic State senior Georgi Rumenov was named the men’ s tennis ITA Senior Player of the Year while Lander’ s Vincent Verpeaux was named the national Player to Watch at a banquet on the eve of the national championships in Surprise, Az. Both players will begin play in the NCAA national finals on Wednesday.

A two-time PBC Player of the Year honoree, Rumenov has been ranked No. 1 in the nation in both singles and doubles in every ranking that he has been eligible for. The Barcelona, Spain, native is 17-1 in singles and 23-1 in doubles play this dual match season and he also captured the ITA“ Super Bowl” doubles title as well as the ITA Division II singles title in the fall.

Rumenov joins a distinguished list of Pirates to earn the honor with the only two previous recipients being Armstrong Athletic Hall of Famers Pradeep Raman( 1991) and Philipp Schertel( 1995).

Verpeaux followed up a great sophomore season with an equally as strong junior year. He posted a 12-3 singles record playing primarily

first and second singles while also tallying an impressive 14-4 mark in doubles action. For his efforts this season, Verpeaux has earned a No. 20 national ranking in the ITA Division II Tennis Rankings and has been named to the All-Peach Belt Second Team for singles.

Ten PBC Men’ s Tennis Players Named ITA All-Americans

SKILLMAN, NJ – Ten Peach Belt Conference men’ s tennis players have been named All-Americans by the Intercollegiate Tennis Association. Armstrong Atlantic State leads all schools nationally with five selections while Lander adds three and Georgia College one. To be named an All-American, a player must finish in the top 20 of the final ITA College Rankings in singles or in the top 10 in doubles.

For Armstrong, Daniel Regan, Georgi Rumenov, Matus Mydla, Pedro Scocuglia and Svan Lalic were named All-American. Lander’ s Adam Jonsson, August Iwdal and Vincent Verpeaux were also place on the team along with Georgia College’ s Johan Wadstein and North Georgia’ s Felipe Friedrich.

Armstrong seniors Dan Regan and Georgi Rumenov earned both singles and doubles All-American honors for the Pirates, while senior Matus Mydla earned All-American singles honors and junior Pedro Scocuglia and sophomore Sven Lalic earned All-American doubles honors. The five All-Americans for the Pirates are the most for any DII school in 2013.

For Rumenov, it was his second straight season with All-American honors in singles and doubles, while Regan earns his first All-American honors in both with his outstanding season. Mydla earns his second straight All-American singles honors while both Lalic and Scocuglia earn their first career All-American honors in doubles.

For Lander, Verpeaux, who earlier was named the national“ Player to Watch,” finished the year ranked No. 18 in singles, while the doubles team of Jonsson and Iwdal are No. 7 nationally. The trio earned All-American honors based on their final rankings.

Verpeaux, a junior from Aix en Provence, France, was 14-4 in singles, while Jonsson / Iwdal were 16-6 in doubles. Jonsson is a sophomore from Uma, Sweden, and Iwdal a sophomore from Gothenburg, Sweden.

GC’ s Wadstein finished his senior year with a 16-8 singles record, playing exclusively in the No. 1 position for the Bobcats. He helped GC tennis reach the NCAA Regional Tournament for the seventh season in a row.

He had wins against then No. 21 Alou Adjenak and then No. 16 Alex Caspari. He also had an unfinished match against then No. 17 Paul-Henri Arrigoni in which he had the lead, as well as another match against Caspari in the NCAA Regional where he was two points away from victory when the Bobcats earned the team victory. This is the second year in a row that Wadstein earned All-American status, after making the doubles team with then-partner Jerome Leborgne during the 2012 spring season.

Friedrich, a 5-8 senior from Santa Maria, Brazil, led the Saints this