Cumberland men win Senior Day battle with Tennessee Southern

Apr. 15—No. 14 Cumberland grinded out a 5-2 win over a tough Tennessee Southern men's tennis team on Senior Day on Wednesday on the Tommy Gray Memorial Courts.

Prior to the match, Cumberland honored its lone senior Felipe Ferreira with Senior Day festivities.

The Phoenix struggled in the doubles, losing two out of three matches to the visiting Firehawks. Adrijan Hrzic and Felipe Ferreira got the only doubles win for Cumberland, defeating Nickolas Rosa and Guilherme Cupertino 6-3 at No. 1. However, the Phoenix were determined to bounce back in singles play.

The singles matches were fiercely contested, with several going to three sets. Hrzic and Wessels pit the Phoenix on the board with dominant wins at No. 2 and No. 3 in singles. Hrzic cruised to a straight-sets victory over Shizuya Kubo, winning 6-2, 6-2 and Wessels followed with a 6-1, 6-2 win over Gasper Audisio.

Each of the Phoenix at No. 4, No. 5, and No. 6 dropped their first set. At No. 6, Fernando Flores lost in three to Juan Camilo Moreno to tie the match.

At No. 4, Julian Parada battled back from a set down to defeat Felipe Dias 5-7, 6-1, 6-4 in the No. 4 position, putting the Phoenix just one win away from clinching the match.

German Suarez provided that clinching win for Cumberland, outlasting Martin Cabrerra in a three-set thriller, 3-6, 7-5, 6-4, in the No. 5 spot.

Pavel Kelo tacked on the final point for Cumberland, also rallying from a set down to defeat Cupertino 5-7, 6-1, 6-2 in the No. 1 position.

Despite the loss in the doubles point, Cumberland showed great resilience and determination in singles play to secure the victory.

The Phoenix improved their record to 18-6 overall and 9-1 in conference play with the win. This was the final regular season match on the ledger as Cumberland will likely enter next week's conference championships as the No. 2 seed.

Women also prevail

Cumberland's women celebrated Senior Day with a hard-fought victory over RV Tennessee Southern, winning 4-3 Wednesday at the Tommy Gray Memorial Courts.

The Phoenix began the day by honoring their only senior, Jessica Hernandez, before the match.

CU started strong, sweeping the doubles matches to earn the doubles point. Hernandez and partner Maria Arbelaez defeated Victoria Sanches and Margaret Lucas 6-4 at No. 1, while Lara Zugasti and Elina Sungatullina battled to a 7-6 (7-3) victory at No. 2 against Otone Odajima and Yen-Ju Chang. At No. 3, Juanita Mendez and Kaede Hatano defeated Abbey Rumble and Leovanna Viamonte 6-3 to complete the sweep and win the doubles point which payed dividends in the match.

Moving on to singles, Cumberland split the singles matches to do just enough to get the win. Hernandez won at No. 1, Arbelaez won at No. 2, and Zugasti won at No. 5 to get the 4-3 victory.

Hernandez earned a straight-sets win over Lucas 6-3, 6-3. Arbelaez continued with a 6-3, 6-1 victory over Odajima, Zugasti defeated Viamonte 6-3, 6-1.

Tennessee Southern's Chang defeated Sungatullina 3-6, 6-4, 1-0 (10-5). Emely Castro defeated Mendez 6-3, 7-6 (8-6) in the fourth position, setting up a tense finale. Sara Teoro de Morias of Tennessee Southern was able to pick up a win in the sixth position over Alexandra Leisibach 6-3, 6-4.

The Phoenix finished the regular season with a 10-13 record and 7-3 Mid-South Conference mark. Cumberland is set to begin the Mid-South Conference Championships next week with seeding still to be determined as there are conference matches through the rest of the week. Currently, CU sits in fourth place in the standings.

CU men drop to No. 14 in NAIA tennis coaches' poll

Cumberland's men slipped two spots to No. 14 in the newest edition of the NAIA top 25 tennis coaches' poll, released Wednesday by the national office.

The Phoenix are 17-6 overall and 8-1 in Mid-South Conference play. Cumberland's only loss in conference came to the new No. 12 team in the University of the Cumberlands. The Phoenix played their final regular-season match Wednesday against Tennessee Southern.

The top 10 teams remain unchanged with the Keiser Seahawks at the top of the rankings with a record of 16-4 and 343 points. Georgia Gwinnett comes in at No. 2 followed by Tennessee Wesleyan at No. 3. Northwestern Ohio checks in at No. 4 and William Woods (Mo.) round out the top five at No. 5.

In the Mid-South Conference, after the Patriots defeated the Phoenix, the Cumberlands becomes the new highest-ranked Mid-South team at No. 12. The Phoenix are slotted at No. 14 followed by Lindsey Wilson at No. 17.

The Mid-South Conference Championships are set to begin next week in Bowling Green, Ky.