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ROCK HILL, SC--The Winthrop men's tennis team captured its first Big South Conference Championship title in four years and earned the automatic bid to the 2014 NCAA Tournament with a 4-2 victory over Campbell on Thursday afternoon at Memorial Courts.
The Big South finals were originally slated to be completed last Saturday at Gardner-Webb in Boiling Springs, NC, but rain forced the match to be moved to Rock Hill since No. 2 Winthrop had the higher seed over No. 4 Campbell. The tournament championship is also the first for Winthrop under head coach Andrew Stubbs and the team's first since 2010. The first round of the NCAA tournament will be held May 9 and 10 at a site to be announced on April 29 at 5:00 p.m.
Winthrop won the doubles point, with victories on court No. 1 and court No. 3.
Dylan Comerford and
Peter Nagovnak topped Fernado Guillen and Adrien Rossignon, 8-5 at the top flight and moments after court one concluded,
Corey Decandia and
Juan Pablo Boada secured the point with a 8-4 win at the third flight.
The Eagles extended the lead to 2-0 when
Dylan Comerford defeated Marthinus Visser, 6-4, 6-2 at No. 2. Campbell tied the score at 2-2 following a win on court six from Rik Van Gerwen (def.
Michael Chen), 6-2, 6-2 and a win at the top flight from Fernando Guillen (def.
Yuta Hirokawa) 6-3, 6-2.
Winthrop regained the lead at 3-2 following
Tremayne Mitchell's 7-5, 7-5 win on court No. 4 over Dominik Kaniewski. Boada clinched the match for the Eagles at the fifth flight with a 6-0, 6-7, 6-3 victory over Adrien Rossignon.
Winthrop (16-9) is now 6-9 all-time in Big South Men's Tennis Championship matches. Campbell closed out its season with a 13-9 record.
"It was an unbelievable effort from both teams," said Stubbs. "This is the result of day-in and day-out work that we put in and I am excited for the guys. This team has been through a lot and we have totally rebuilt this program thanks to the seniors for their hard work and staying true to what we are trying to do. We played for the chance to represent the conference and our school in the NCAA tournament. We are going to enjoy this and get ready for the first round."
