ACU men’s tennis finished the fall tennis season strong at Grand Canyon Invitational in Arizona.
Both Junior Johnathan Sheehy and Freshman Michael Benavides won all 6 of their matches (three singles and three doubles each).
Benavides defeated Nicolau Macedo (GCU) 4-6, 7-5, 6-4 in singles on Friday. He defeated Lukas Hoffrichter (MCC) 7-6 (1), 6-2 on Saturday. and on Sunday he beat Jackson Fine (ACU) 1-6, 7-6 (2), 6-1.
In doubles play, Benavides teamed up with Riley Tran to defeat Justin Cvitanovic/ Leo Andreolli (GCU) 6-3 on Friday. Tran and Benavides teamed up again on Sunday defeated Lukas Hoffrichter/ Tyler Davis (MCC) 6-2.
Benavides said even though it’s the end of the fall season, he will continue to work out in the gym in order to prepare for the spring season.
“I am going to put in a copious amount of work in the gym and on the court in order to prepare for this upcoming spring semester,” Benavides said.
Benavides also said he can’t wait to play the Southland conference teams for the first time with his team in the spring.
“I think our team should do a phenomenal job against conference teams,” Benavides said. “We have always been at the top of our conference so I think we are prepared to fight hard and compete.”
Sheehy had a good tournament as well as he defeated Daniel Superlano (AzCU) 3-6, 6-1, 6-2. Saturday he won against Mathieu Rajaonah (GCU) 6-1, 6-2. on Sunday he won against Christopher Steele (NAU) 6-1, 7-5.
In doubles play, Sheehy teamed up with senior Cole Lawson to defeat Valentin Lang and Jakub Novak (GCU) 7-6 (7). On Saturday, Sheehy and Lawson beat Chris Steele and David Nguyen (NAU) 6-3. Sunday, they finished doubles by beating Connor Olsen (UofA) and Theo Preiswerk (AzCU) 6-3.
Sheehy said the one thing that the team needs to work on for the spring season is consistency.
“Sometimes we play great and the next match could be a lesser team and we sometimes play down to their level,” Sheehy said.
Sheehy also said that he feels like the team has had a lot of quality wins this fall and the momentum will carry into the spring season.
“I feel like we recorded so many wins this season and it gives us confidence and eagerness to start playing in the spring,” Sheehy said. “We are going to grind in the offseason, mainly focusing on getting stronger and faster, like beasts.”
ACU will start its Spring Season in January and will face schools in the Southland Conference and other Div. I schools such as Baylor, Pepperdine, Texas Tech, Rice and SMU.
