Championship Central
ROMEOVILLE, Ill. - No. 22-ranked and the West's top seed Southwest Baptist University upset fifth-ranked and the East's top seed University of Indianapolis, 4-2, in the Great Lakes Valley Conference (GLVC) Men's Tennis Championship on Sunday at the Jack Oremus Tennis Complex in Romeoville, Illinois, to claim its first-ever league title.
The No. 2 doubles squad of Adham Gaber and Youssef Nabil were first to finish for the Bearcats, taking a 6-3 win over Indianapolis' Renato Lima and Max Witthaus. The SBU No. 1 doubles pair of Carlos Corser and Max Sanoja clinched the doubles point with a 6-1 win past UIndy's Tom Zeuch and Yoann Viel. The No. 3 doubles match went unfinished between UIndy's Nikolaj Talimaa and Pedro Franca and SBU's David Szeri and Alvaro Nunez.
Hounds' No. 2 Zeuch was the first to take a singles win, sweeping Corser in straight sets, 6-0, 6-0, to even the match at 1-1. Nunez followed with a 6-3, 6-0 victory at No. 3 over Viel to put the Bearcats back up, 2-1. Szeri then extended the 'Cats' lead to 3-1 with his 6-2, 6-4 edging of Talimaa. UIndy got one back thanks to Dominik Koenig at the No. 5 spot against Nabil, 6-4, 6-2, leaving the contests at No. 1 and 6 left the conclude. Both entered a third set, but it was GLVC Player of the Year Gaber at No. 1 who won the tiebreaker for the final 2-6, 6-3, 7-6 (7-5) win and 4-2 final score, deposing the four-time champs and giving SBU its first program crown in the sport.
At the conclusion of the Championship, SBU head coach Fanni Vargo was named GLVC Coach of the Year. Her Bearcats now await the NCAA Selection Show on May 4 to determine their Regional fate. The 2021 NCAA Division II Championships will be played May 18-20 in Surprise, Ariz., at the Surprise Tennis & Racquet Complex, following the preliminary rounds on May 7-9.
All tournament matches that streamed live on the GLVC Sports Network this weekend can be replayed by choosing the "On Demand" tab on
GLVCSN.com, the GLVCSN iOS/Android mobile apps, or on the Roku, Apple TV, Amazon Fire TV and Android TV OTT platforms.
Visit
GLVCsports.com/2021tennis for complete results and other details.