AAC Teams Go 1-1 on First Day of NAIA National Tournament

AAC Teams Go 1-1 on First Day of NAIA National Tournament
May 18, 2022

KANSAS CITY, Mo. – [BRACKET | SCHEDULE] With just one exception in a No. 16 vs. No. 17 matchup, all higher seeds prevailed on day one of play at the 2022 NAIA Men's Tennis National Championship.

No. 17 Ave Maria (Fla.) was the lone lower seed to advance after one day of play. Seeds No. 9-24 all competed on the first morning of play that was delayed by weather. In the end, however, the bracket set-up with the higher seed advancing to take on the top eight seeds, each of which received a bye to the second round of play.

Game Notes & Highlights

  • In the lone upset of the day, No. 17 Ave Maria (Fla.) came storming back after losing the doubles point, and pieced together four-straight singles victories, highlighted by Fernando Orihuela's 6-4, 3-6, 6-3, win over German Suarez, to upset No. 16 Cumberland (Tenn.), 4-1.
  • No. 24 Oakland City (Ind.) captured the doubles point and quickly took a 2-0 lead, but No. 9 Northwestern Ohio employed four-consecutive victories, including a 4-6, 6-0, 6-2 win by Malik Omarkhanov over Gustavo Marangoni, to take a 4-2 victory.
  • No. 12 Cumberlands (Ky.) made quick work of host No. 21 Mobile (Ala.), 4-0, using a Martin Barbier and Eric Banoub 7-5 win over Nicolas Mougaillard and Santiago Diloreto to break a 1-1 tie in doubles play.
  • Armed with a 3-1 lead, No. 20 Reinhardt (Ga.) nearly upset No. 13 Southeastern (Fla.), but a late 3-0 rally by the Fire, capped by a dramatic 3-6, 6-4, 7-6 (1), win by Enrique Martinez over Said Santin, gave the higher seed a 4-3 come-from-behind victory.
  • No. 14 San Diego Christian (Calif.) built a comfortable 3-0 lead over No. 19 Cardinal Stritch (Wisc.), but the Hawks finally ended the match, 4-2, with Robin Van den Hoek's 0-6, 6-4, 6-3 rally past Mugo Munoz.
  • The second sweep of the day came by way of No. 11 Union (Ky.) making quick work of No. 22 McPherson (Kan.). The tandem of Sebastiano Zorzi and Sergio Lizbreak used a 7-4 tiebreak win over Jakob Komel and Trey Murphy to break a 1-1 deadlock in doubles play.
  • In the third and final blanking of the First Round, No. 10 Middle Georgia State swept past No. 23 Midland (Neb.), 4-0, despite Midland taking the bottom doubles flight. The Knights responded with 6-4 and 6-2 wins at the top and middle flights, and never looked back in singles play.
  • In perhaps the best matchup of the day, No. 15 Coastal Georgia outlasted No. 18 Williams Woods (Mo.), 4-3. The underdog Owls began the upset big by picking up the doubles point and quickly took the top and bottom singles flights to take a resounding 3-0 advantage. The Mariners won the 2-5 flights consecutively and completed the upset rejection with Lucas Landaluce's dramatic 6-7 (4-7), 7-6 (7-4), 6-4, come-from-behind win over Ben Grumley at the two spot.
  • Higher seeds went 7-1 on day one of play. This is the second consecutive season that higher seeds won seven of the eight matches on the first day of play.