By Brandon Tripp, Sports Writer
The Wildcat men’s tennis team wrapped up its regular season with a couple of big wins. The women had the weekend off, but the men defeated two conference opponents.
The men took a 21-4 record into the final weekend of the regular season against conference opponent Southeastern Oklahoma State University and nationally ranked conference foe No. 28 East Central Oklahoma University.
ACU first faced Southeastern Oklahoma on Friday. The Wildcats got off to a solid start with two wins in doubles play, taking a 2-1 lead in the match into the singles matches. In singles, it was all ACU as the men swept the Savage Storm, dropping just one set to Southeastern to take the match 8-1. Eldad Campbell won at the No. 1 singles 6-3, 4-6, 6-0, filling in for injured senior Juan Nuñez.
On Saturday, the men looked to improve to 3-1 in conference against the No. 28 team in the country, the East Central Oklahoma Tigers. ACU again took a stand in doubles play and took a commanding 3-0 lead into the round of singles. In singles play, Campbell dropped his No. 1 singles match in three tough sets 3-6, 6-3, 6-2. The Wildcats took the No. 2, No. 3 and No. 4 singles matches in straight sets before winning a three-set match and dropping a three-set match.
“It was a good warm up; now it’s time to win conference,” head coach Hutton Jones said.
The men finished the regular season at 23-7 and 3-1 in conference, giving them a No. 2 finish in the conference.
Both teams are preparing this week for the LSC Conference Tournament in Wichita Falls on Friday and Saturday.
The men come into the tournament with the No. 2 seed in the conference behind Cameron, the only team the Wildcats lost to in conference play. The Wildcats need to finish in the top two this weekend to advance to the South Central Region Tournament and need to win the LSC Tournament to host a regional tournament as a No. 1 seed. The men will receive a first-round bye and will face East Central University, the team they defeated over the past weekend. ACU is hoping to have its No. 1 player Juan Nuñez return to the court after suffering an injury in the Wildcats’ match against Cameron.
The women head into the tournament with the conference’s top seeding and as the favorite to repeat as tournament champions. The women will begin their tournament against Southeastern Oklahoma State, a team they shut out in the first weekend of the season. The Wildcats’ likely opponent in the finals would appear to be Northeastern State, whose only loss in conference was at the hands of ACU.
“We are here to win it,” Jones said. “I expect to upset Cameron on the boys’ side and I, expect to take it on the girls side.”
