BARRY WINS MEN’S TENNIS TITLE IN DRAMATIC, COME-FROM-BEHIND EFFORT
In a gutsy, come-from-behind performance, Barry upset top-ranked Valdosta State to win the school's first NCAA Division II Men's Tennis Championship on Saturday at Sanlando Park in Altamonte Springs, Fla. A round-by-round recap of all NCAA tournament action, including Saturday's thrilling title match, appears below.
Barry Regional Host Site
Valdosta State Regional Host Site
Rollins NCAA Finals Host Site with Live Stats
THURSDAY, MAY 6 RECAP: Rollins and Florida Southern each rolled to a pair of 5-0 wins in Thursday's opening round of the NCAA DII Men's Tennis Championship. The Tars downed Fort Valley State in Valdosta, while the Moccasins defeated Morehouse in Miami Shores.
After sweeping doubles play, Michael Knoedler notched a singles point for FSC in the #1 slot, downing Tory Martin 6-1, 6-0. In the #6 position, Ben Taylor defeated Michael Steward 6-0, 6-0. The Moccasins advance to face host Barry Friday at 1 p.m.
The Tars also swept all three doubles matches, and Jeff Morris and Pablo Seijo sealed the win in singles. Morris rolled past Tommy Williams 6-0, 6-0 in the top flight, while beat Drew Belk 6-0, 6-0 at #3. The Tars advance to face SSC foe Lynn at 10 a.m. Friday.
FRIDAY, MAY 7 RECAP: Barry and Lynn each posted victories in their regional matches on Friday to remain in the hunt for the NCAA DII Men's Tennis Championship. Florida Southern and Rollins fell in their contests to close out their seasons.
Barry rolled to a 5-0 win over West Florida. The Buccaneers swept the doubles matches, then the duo of Marco Mokrzycki and Emanuel Fraitzl added another point in their respective singles matches. No. 16 Mokrzycki upset No. 8 Kevin Ducros 6-3, 6-4 in the top position, while No. 32 Fraitzl downed Sean Gunnels 6-2, 6-0. The Buccaneers advance to face Ouachita Baptist on Saturday. OBU defeated Florida Southern 5-2. Michael Knoedler did his part for the Moccasins, picking up both of FSC's points. He won with Roman Schirmaier at #1 doubles, then defeated No. 26 Jan Plewinski 6-2, 6-0 in the #1 doubles slot.
Playing in Valdosta, Lynn and Rollins had an epic battle, with the Fighting Knights edging their SSC foe 5-4.
Rollins claimed a 2-1 lead after doubles with Jeff Morris and Neil Clausen taking the top point over Alessandro Sarra and Willi Wolfer 8-6. Pablo Seijo and Arturo Baravalle earned the second point for Rollins with an 8-4 win over Tomas Racak and George Laffey of Lynn. Luca Pavanelli and Alex Voirin beat Nick Rowlands and Chris Herbert 8-4 for Lynn's only point in doubles.
The Fighting Knights rallied in singles play, winning in all spots except for third and sixth. Rollins' Baravalle beat Wolfer 6-4, 1-6, 6-3, in the third spot, while Herbert beat Laffey 6-1, 6-4 in the sixth spot.
Lynn's Sarra, Racak, Pavanelli and Voirin won to clinch the match for the Knights. Sarra beat Morris 7-5, 6-4, while Racak followed with a 5-7, 6-3, 6-4 win over Clausen. Pavanelli beat Girts Dzelde 6-3, 6-2 and Voirin swept Seijo 6-2, 6-3.
Lynn will face off with host Valdosta State on Saturday. The Blazers advanced with a 5-0 win over West Alabama.
SATURDAY, MAY 8 RECAP: Barry will carry the SSC banner to next week's NCAA DII men's tennis finals, which will be hosted at Sanlando Park in Altamonte Springs, Fla. The Buccaneers rolled to a 5-0 win over Ouachita Baptist in Saturday's regional final. In the other South Region final, Valdosta downed Lynn 5-1 to put an end to the Fighting Knights' season.
For the second consecutive day, Emanual Fraitzl earned two points for Barry. He began the day by joining Marco Mokrzycki for an 8-4 upset over the No. 28 duo of Tobias Kohlmann and Till Heilshorn at #2 doubles. He then posted a 6-4, 6-3 win over Heilshorn in the # 3 singles position. Andrew Sharnov also accounted for two Buccaneer points. The senior teamed with Sergio Velez for an 8-3 doubles win over Jan Plewinski and Daniel Moser in the #3 singles slot. Sharnov then notched a 6-4, 7-5 victory over Kuhlmann at #5 singles.
With the win, Barry advances to the NCAA finals for the 15th time in program history. The No. 4 Buccaneers will face off against No. 17 Drury on Wednesday, May 12.
In the other regional final in Valdosta, Lynn ran into a formidable foe in host Valdosta State. The Knights' lone point came in the #3 doubles position, where Tomas Racak and George Laffey defeated Otto Lenhart and Frank Sickman 9-7.
NCAA ROUND OF 16 RECAP (MAY 12): Barry easily passed its first test at the NCAA DII men's tennis finals, defeating Drury 5-1 in the Round of 16. With the win, the Buccaneers draw a tough quarterfinal assignment against two-time defending national champion Armstrong Atlantic, which cruised past Kutztown 5-0 on Wednesday. Quarterfinal match time is set for 1 p.m. at Sanlando Park.
The Bucs took a 2-1 lead after doubles play. In the #2 slot, Emanuel Fraitzl and Marco Mokrzycki defeated Jesus Ramon Garcia and Antonio Garcia Santos 8-3. At #3, Andrew Sharnov and Sergio Velez combined for an 8-1 victory versus Lukas Zielen and Alex Kacamakis. Fraitzl and Sharnov would also tally a point in singles play. Fraitzl beat Kacamakis 6-2, 6-3 in the #3 position. Sharnov rolled past Ivan Marevic 6-1, 6-2 at #5. Ales Svigelj claimed the other singles point for the Bucs, defeating Roman Gonda 7-6, 6-2 in the #2 slot.
NCAA QUARTERFINAL RECAP (MAY 13): In a hard-fought battle, No. 4 Barry upset two-time defending national champion Armstrong Atlantic 5-2 in Thursday's quarterfinal round at the DII Men's Tennis Championship. The win sends the Buccaneers to Friday's semifinals, where they will take on No. 11 Concordia (N.Y.) at 1 p.m. at Sanlando Park.
Barry took the early lead by winning two of three tightly-contested doubles matches. In the #2 position, Emanuel Fraitzl and Marco Mokrzycki defeated Matus Mydla and Daniel Regan 8-5. At #3, Andrew Sharnov and Sergio Velez downed Eudaldo Bonet and Paul Fitzgerald 8-6. Sharnov would also pick up a crucial point in singles play. Playing in the #5 spot, he posted a 5-7, 6-1, 6-2 win over Regan. In the #6 match, Simon Raagaard took down Fitzgerald 6-0, 3-6, 6-3. Ales Svigelj clinched the match with a 6-4, 0-6, 6-4 win over Bonet in the #2 flight.
NCAA SEMIFINAL RECAP (MAY 14): Just 24 hours after gutting out a hard-fought win over two-time defending champion Armstrong Atlantic, Barry was no worse for the wear in Friday' DII men's tennis semifinals, romping past Concordia (N.Y.) 5-0. With the victory, the No. 4 Buccaneers will take on No. 1 Valdosta State in the championship match at 1 p.m. at Sanlando Park. The event will be streamed live on the NCAA website.
On Friday, the Buccaneers started things off on the right foot by sweeping doubles play. In the top flight, the No. 10-ranked duo of Ales Svigelj and Max Wimmer defeated No. 2 Alex Grubin and Andrey Boldareu 8-6. In the #2 position, Emanuel Fraitzl and Marco Mokrzycki downed Raphael Namias and Felix Missal 8-6. At #3, Alex Sharnov and Sergio Velez notched an 8-4 victory over Tamas Dobrotka and Andreas Lindell. Fraizl and Wimmer would secure the two singles points that sealed the win. Fraitzl tallied a 6-2, 6-3 #3 win over Missal. Wimmer recorded the match-winning point with a 6-2, 6-3 decision over Namias.
NCAA FINAL RECAP (MAY 15): The Barry Buccaneers would not be denied. Despite falling behind No 1-ranked Valdosta State 4-2, the No. 4 Bucs battled back to win the title by a score of 5-4.
Valdosta needed only one point with two singles matches on the court to take the title. The two remaining matches were #3 singles, with No. 32 Emanuel Fraitzl against No. 19 Christian Hansen, and #5 singles with Andrew Sharnov against Konstantin Kutschenko. Fraitzl fell behind 4-0 in the third set and Sharnov fell back 4-1. The upper classmen persevered and took both matches and the national championship.
Finishing first was #2 doubles. Fraitzl and Marco Mokrzycki went down 4-1 but fought back to make it a 6-7 match. The No. 19 team of Daniel Dueren and Christian Hansen took the match at 8-6, earning the Blazers their first point of the overall match.
In the third flight of doubles, Sergio Velez and Sharnov went up 7-2 and looked to capture an early first point for the match. The Valdosta pair of Otto Lenhart and Frank Sickman came back to the cut the Buccaneer lead in the set to 6-7. However, the Bucs duo finished with an 8-6 win and tied the match at 1-1.
With the match tied, Ales Svigelj and Max Wimmer went down to the wire in a tie breaker at #1 doubles. Barry had a match point when the tie breaker was at 6-5 and Valdosta serving. The No. 1 doubles team of Philip Pakebusch and Michael Kuech took the point on an ace by Kuech. Valdosta eventually grabbed the match on a well-placed lob over both Buccaneers who were at the net.
In singles, Valdosta took four first sets and looked composed to take the championship. At #2 singles, No. 36 Svigelj fell 6-2, 6-1 to No. 5 Daniel Dueren. The Blazers collected a commanding 3-1 lead in the match.
The Buccaneers needed a lift with Valdosta only needing two singles wins to take the championship. No. 40 Wimmer delivered the Bucs' only two-set win of the day in the #4 slot. Wimmer went 6-4 in set one over the Blazers' Lenhart, then blanked Lenhart 6-0 to take the match. Barry still trailed by one at 2-3 in the overall match.
Mokrzycki faced the challenge of taking on the No. 3 player in the nation, fellow German Pakebusch, in the top flight. The top Barry player suffered a 6-3, 7-6 (7-3) loss. The win for Valdosta put the Blazers a mere one point away from the national title with three matches still on the court.
The amazing Buccaneer comeback started with #6 singles. Velez found himself in an early hole as he dropped his first set 6-0 to Kuech. The junior came back in the second set and took a 6-2 win. In the third set, with his team’s back against the wall, and falling behind a break at 4-3, Velez did not give up another game and put the Buccaneers back into the match with a 6-4 win in the third set. Barry still trailed 4-5 with Fraitzl and Sharnov still on the court.
At the end of Velez’s match, Fraitzl was down 4-0 and Sharnov was down 4-1 in the third set. With both their opponents battling cramps, Fraitzl won the next six games and tied the overall match at 4-4.
Sharnov won the next four games in his match and had two match points with a 5-4 lead in the set but could not capitalize on either. The senior lost that game and the next to fall back 6-5 against Kutschenko. Sharnov tied the match at 6-6 and the national title came down to a tie-break.
Sharnov took the first point of the tie-break then Kutschenko answered to tie things up. The next five points where won by Sharnov, giving him four match point opportunities for a win. With a 6-4 lead in the tie-break, Sharnov landed a baseline forehand winner to win the NCAA DII Men’s Tennis National Championship.
Barry finished the season on a 12 match win streak and a record of 25-4.
MATCH SCHEDULE
THURSDAY, MAY 6
Hosted by Barry
Florida Southern 5, Morehouse 0
West Florida 5, Harding 0
Hosted by Valdosta State
West Alabama 5, Alabama-Huntsville 4
Rollins 5, Fort Valley State 0
FRIDAY, MAY 7
Hosted by Barry
Barry 5, West Florida 0
Ouachita Baptist 5, Florida Southern 2
Hosted by Valdosta State
Lynn 5, Rollins 4
Valdosta State 5, West Alabama 0
SATURDAY, MAY 8
Hosted by Barry
Barry 5, Ouachita Baptist 0
Hosted by Valdosta State
Valdosta State 5, Lynn 1
WEDNESDAY, MAY 12 - ROUND OF 16
NCAA Finals (Altamonte Springs, Fla.)
Barry 5, Drury, 1
THURSDAY, MAY 13 - QUARTERFINALS
NCAA Finals (Altamonte Springs, Fla.)
Barry 5, Armstrong Atlantic 2
FRIDAY, MAY 14 - SEMIFINALS
NCAA Finals (Altamonte Springs, Fla.)
Barry 5, Concordia (N.Y.) 0
SATURDAY, MAY 15 - CHAMPIONSHIP
NCAA Finals (Altamonte Springs, Fla.)
Barry 5, Armstrong Atlantic 4