Men's tennis team fares well, will play in quarterfinals in five of nine flights
The Eastern Florida State College men's tennis team will have five flights playing in the quarterfinals on Wednesday at the NJCAA Division I National Championship Tournament in Tyler, Texas.
Bernardo Vieira and Lluc Pasqual Camps each won their individual singles matches and teamed up to win at No. 2 doubles as well on Tuesday.
Vieira, the No. 5 seed at No. 4 singles, came out and picked up a big win against Harford's Paulo Reis, 6-3, 6-0. Leading 4-3 in the first set, Reis was serving up 40-0 but Vieira came storming back to force deuce and eventually break Reis and served out for the 6-3 win. He would win the second set 6-0 to advance to the quarterfinals.
Vieira will play the fourth seed Mauri Gonzalez at 8 a.m. in one of the four quarterfinal matches.
Camps cruised at No. 5 singles as the No. 4 seed defeated Tinashe Whata 6-1, 6-0 to advance to the quarterfinals. Camps will play No. 5 seed Sam Bajracharya of Barton Community College, who also won 6-1, 6-0. The match will be at 9:30 a.m. on Wednesday for a spot in the semifinals.
Camps filled in for teammate Ramiro Rincon, who had to forfeit his No. 3 singles match due to cramping up in the heat. Rincon was supposed to team with Vieira at No. 2 doubles but Camps filled in nicely on Tuesday as the No. 2 doubles team picked up a quick 6-0, 6-0 win.
Camps and Vieira will advance to the quarterfinals where they will face Seward Community College's Luke Quaynor and Kylian Savary who defeated Wallace State's team 6-1, 6-1 to reach the quarterfinals.
"I was surprised, Ramiro got really cramped so I was surprised to play with my new partner Lluc, but we managed to win and we did really good," said Vieira who won a national title last season for the Titans at No. 3 doubles. "Tomorrow is another day, I play singles at 8 a.m. so it won't be really hot. It has been really hard to play in the heat, but I hope I can play well and win."
Lucas Gonzalez picked up a couple of wins on Tuesday as the sophomore picked up a win at No. 1 singles to advance to the quarterfinals. The No. 4 seed defeated Pratt Community College's Dante Despontin 6-0, 6-3 in the second round.
Gonzalez will play No. 5 seed Adrien Guibert of Collin College. Guibert won in three sets on Tuesday, losing the first set 5-7 before winning 6-3 and 6-2 to advance. The quarterfinal match will begin at 8 a.m. Wednesday.
Corentin Venot is also heading to the quarterfinals after his win at No. 6 singles. The No. 4 seed recorded four aces in the 6-2, 6-3 victory. Venot will take on Barton Community College's Prince Tsiang in the quarterfinals at 9:30 a.m. Tsiang defeated Hinds Community College's Justin Humphrey 6-1, 6-2 to make the quarterfinals.
Jaewoo Choi fell in the second round of the No. 2 singles to the 6 seed James Kaoma 6-1, 6-4, wrapping up his season at singles.
The team of Choi and Enric Porcar came into the tournament as the 6 seed but lost to Collin College's Gianni Lopez and Edward Shteyn 6-4, 6-1 in the second round. They will play Harford's Alexander Carlsson and Tinashe Whata at 2 p.m. in a consolation round match.
The No. 1 doubes team of Gonzalez and George Myers Millington will play in the consolation quarterfinals against Sauk Valley Community College's Corey Engel and Preston Engel at 12:30 on Wednesday.
Overall, the Titans are in 10th place in the team standings after two rounds. Cowley Community College and Seward Community College are tied for the lead in the tournament heading into the quarterfinal round.