SE Wins Second-Straight GAC Title

Men's Tennis | 4/15/2015 7:52:00 PM

DURANT, Okla.  – Southeastern held off arch-rival East Central in its Great American Conference regular season finale by a 5-4 margin to pick up its second-straight GAC Regular Season Championship and finish the conference slate with an undefeated record.
 
The Savage Storm improve to 16-3 overall on the year and 3-0 in GAC play, but slip to No. 4 in the Central Region rankings heading into an April 19 matchup with Texas-Permian Basin at noon in Lawton, Okla., followed by a trip to the conference tournament where they will be the top seed and play either Harding or ECU in the opening round on April 24 in Bentonville, Ark.
 
SE fell in a tight matchup at one doubles, but Maxim Fil and Jack Gibbens righted the ship with an 8-6 win at number two and Paul Nguyen and Petar Popovic sealed a 2-1 lead with an 8-3 win at three doubles.
 
Fil carried his momentum into singles play where he cruised to a 6-1, 6-1 win at number one for a 3-1 lead.
 
The Tigers would get a point back at number two, but Tiago Ferreira would regain the momentum with a 6-2, 6-2 win at three to stretch the lead to 4-2.
 
Gibbens would clinch the match with a 6-2, 6-4 win at number four for a 5-2 lead.
 
ECU would snag wins in tiebreakers at five and six to make the final 5-4.