Men’s tennis played three matches at the HEB Tournament of Champions in Corpus Christi on Feb. 18 and 19. The 4-1 loss happened against Louisiana Lafayette, a team ACU lost 6-1 to at the beginning of the season, and the two wins came against A&M Corpus Christi and Western Athletic Conference foe, New Mexico State.
“We went into the tournament as the lowest ranked,” said head coach Juan Nuñez. “We were ranked that low because of the schedule we had against tough teams early in the season. The game against Louisiana was tough, but the other two games was a credit to all of our guys.”
Daniel Morozov, freshman from Joliet, Ill., has been a pivotal piece for the tennis team according to Nuñez. Morozov won his singles match against A&M Corpus Christi, 6-3, 6-0 and came out firing in a 6-4 doubles win with Savan Chhabra, junior from Irving.
“Daniel has really grabbed this team’s energy, and his presence on the court is amazing,” Nuñez said. “The way he and others are competing and representing our program is amazing. He is ten times a better person than he is player.”
Oswaldo Cano, senior from Zacatlan, Mexico, gave his team a huge boost with a 6-3, 7-5 singles victory to clinch the match against New Mexico State. Coach Nuñez credits giving Oswaldo a chance at success in the match to student assistant, Matias Montañes.
“I want to give credit to our student assistant, Matias, for giving Oswaldo a shot,” Nuñez said. “His tennis IQ is incredible, and he has a great piece for not just me and my staff, but for our entire program.”
The women traveled to College Station to face off against Texas A&M. The 6-1 loss against the Aggies comes after a bye week that the Wildcats had after their matches in New Mexico on Feb. 6.
The Aggies took control of the match early in singles and never looked back. ACU however, was not able to build on the singles success in court six with a 10-7 tiebreaker win from Illeana Mocciola, graduate student from Argentina.
“Although we may have lost at A&M, I would not consider it a weekend we need to bounce back from,” said Sylvia Viljoen, junior from Jackson, Miss. “This weekend was more of a weekend that we can use as momentum for the rest of the reason.”
Both the Men and Women stay at home in Abilene this weekend, beginning on Feb. 26, where both teams play against UT Texas-Tyler and LeTourneau University, and the Women play UTEP on Feb. 27 to end off the home stretch.
