SE Tennis Opens Round of 16 Against MSU

Men's Tennis | 5/17/2016 3:50:00 PM

DENVER, Colo. – No. 19 Southeastern men's tennis will open its first appearance at the NCAA Division II Tennis Championship on May 18 when it takes on No. 14 Midwestern State at 2 p.m. (MT) at the Regency Athletic Complex on the campus of Metro State in Denver, Colo., in the Round of 16.
 
The Savage Storm come into the championship with a 16-2 record on the season and earned its berth with a 5-3 win at No. 20 Nebraska-Kearney in the Central Region 2 matchup back on May 10.
 
That win was the team's eighth-straight which also included a 6-3 win to end the regular season over its Round of 16 opponent MSU.
 
In the first meeting between the teams it was the Mustangs who opened the match with a 1-0 lead after taking the top doubles spot, but Netanel Alcabas and Alberto Blesa had the answer with an 8-4 win at number two to event he match at 1-1.
 
Petar Popovic and Mislav Colak then came through with a big 9-7 win at three doubles to stake the Storm to a 2-1 lead heading to singles play.
 
Jack Gibbens in the four position was the first SE player to pick up a singles win, downing his opponent 6-3, 6-3 for a 3-1 lead.
 
Blesa then stretched the lead to 4-1 with a 6-3, 6-2 win at the number three spot.
 
SE would fall at the two position which allowed MSU to close to within 4-2, but No. 45 Maksim Fil had the answer with a 6-4, 7-5 win over No. 44 Kyle Davidson to clinch the match at 5-2 before playing out the remaining matches for the 6-3 final.
 
The Storm would go on to pick up a Great American Conference Championship five days later with a 5-4 win over East Central before earning the No. 2 seed in the Central Region and facing UNK.
 
After SE fell behind 1-0 in that matchup with a loss at number three doubles, the duo of Alcabas and Blesa once again evened the match at 1-1 with an 8-5 win over the Lopers' Mohab El Zanaty and Lucas Garces at number two.
 
However, UNK would take the number one doubles match and head into singles play with a 2-1 advantage.
 
That advantage would not last long though as Blesa would cruise to a 6-1, 6-4 win over Joey Richards at number four singles to even the score at 2-2.
 
Gibbens put the Storm in front shortly after with a 6-3, 7-5 win over Justin Nguyen at number three to take a 3-2 lead in the match.
 
The Lopers would pick up a win at number five to even the score at 3-3, but Fil would respond and put Southeastern up for good with a 7-5, 6-3 win at number one over Alvaro Arias.
 
Popovic would provide the clinching victory with a 6-4, 6-2 win at number six over Garces to secure the 5-3 win and a trip to Denver.
 
Alcabas enters with 13 singles wins, while Gibbens comes in with 11, with Fil and Tiago Ferreira each posting10 singles wins heading into the Championship.
 
The duo of Alcabas and Blesa have won seven of the eight matchups since partnering in doubles play.
 
Fil and Ferreira have picked up five of the eight matches they have played in since pairing up.