Men's Tennis Captures 2016 A.I.I. Title
The No. 1 Georgia Gwinnett men's tennis team moved one step closer to achieving its goal of a three-peat at the NAIA National Championships on Friday as the Grizzlies swept the Southeast Qualifying Tournament field en route to the championship.
The 2016 Southeast Qualifying Tournament field included NAIA's No. 1 GGC, No. 3 Xavier (Louisiana), No. 25 Asbury (Kentucky), and 2016 Kentucky Intercollegiate Athletic Conference champion Indiana Southeast.
In the morning's semifinal match against No. 25 Asbury, the Grizzlies recorded a 5-0 sweep over the Eagles. Doubles play led the way in the sweep for the Grizzlies as the duos of Kevin Konfederak and Jordan Cox (8-2), Matias Hatem and Connor Clements (8-0), and Lachlan McPhee and Gilad Berman (8-1) all collected victories.
In singles play, Cox blanked Asbury's Ty Abraham with a 6-0, 6-0 victory while Berman clinched the Grizzlies' 21st win of the season with a 6-1, 6-1 win over Julian Tellez at the No. 3 singles spot.
GGC's victory sent the Grizzlies to the tournament finals where it faced third-ranked Xavier in what was revered as the top men's NAIA match of the season by Universal Tennis and the ITA. The two teams' previously scheduled meeting during the Green and Gray Invitational in Lawrenceville on February 21 was canceled due to two straight days of rain in the metro-Atlanta area.
Xavier earned a spot in the final by defeating Indiana Southeast 5-0 in its semifinals match earlier Friday morning.
The Grizzlies took 2-out-of-3 matches during doubles play to go up 2-1 on the Gold Rush at the break. Xavier's lone win of the match came at No. 2 doubles where Karan Salwan and Kyle Montrel combined to beat the third-ranked doubles team in the NAIA of Clements and Hatem 9-8.
Berman picked up his fourth win of the day and tournament with a 6-3, 6-1 win at No. 4 singles against Kevin Chaouat while Clements moved the Grizzlies one point closer to a match victory with a 6-2, 6-1 win against Xavier's Adam Albrecht at the No. 6 singles post.
Carrying a 4-1 lead, McPhee clinched the Grizzlies' 22nd straight win victory of the season, defeating Tushar Mandlekar 6-1, 7-5 at No. 5 singles.
"Today was a wonderful day for our men's team," reflected GGC Head Coach Chase Hodges. "I was really proud of the guys' effort, and it feels great to bring home another title to GGC."
