Saturday, April 15, 2006

MACON, Ga. - The Belmont men's tennis team captured its first Atlantic Sun tennis championship at the John Drew Smith Tennis Center. The Bruins (7-8) knocked off Stetson (19-5) on Saturday, 4-2.

The Bruins got off to a quick start taking the doubles' point as Felipe Lima and Felipe Abreu took down Mario Alberto Cayo and Birger Soiland at number three. At no. 2, Ignacio Gesto and Alex Gillott defeated Joey Jones and Trevor Bach to clinch the point.

In singles' play, Belmont extended its lead to 3-0 with wins at number three and six. Stetson's Marcus Echtler (no. 1) registered a win keeping the Hatters alive and Birger Soiland defeated Gesto at no. 5, trimming the lead to 3-2.

With two matches remaining, Stetson still had hopes of springing a comeback win, but Belmont's Javier Rodriguez recorded a three-set win over Cayo giving the Bruins its first A-Sun championship.

As a No. 4 seed, Belmont made history, knocking off the No.1 seed (ETSU) and No. 2 seed to notch a bid to the NCAA Tournament. The Bruins are the first team in A-Sun history to accomplish such a feat to win the title.

Doubles
No. 1 Echtler/Boulanov (Stetson) def. Rocha/Rodriguez (Belmont) 8-3
No. 2 Gesto/Gillott (Belmont) def. Jones/Bach (Stetson) 8-4
No. 3 Lima/Abreu (Belmont) def. Cayo/Soiland (Stetson) 8-2

Singles
No. 1 Marcus Echtler (Stetson) def. Felipe Lima (Belmont) 7-6 (7-5), 6-2
No. 2 Serguei Boulanov (Stetson) vs. Alex Gillott (Belmont) DNF
No. 3 Fausto Rocha (Belmont) def. Joey Jones (Stetson) 6-1, 7-6 (7-2)
No. 4 Javier Rodriguez (Belmont) def. Mario Alberto Cayo (Stetson) 6-3, 4-6, 6-2
No. 5 Birger Soiland (Stetson) def. Ignacio Gesto (Belmont) 6-3, 6-3
No. 6 Felipe Abreu (Belmont) def. Peter Dzuba (Stetson) 6-1, 6-4

Release courtesy of Mercer Athletic Communications

Post-Match Audio

Belmont Head Coach Jim Madrugal

General statement

on overall season

Belmont sophomore Javier Rodriguez

on winning championship

on winning deciding match

Stetson Head Coach Pierre Pilote

General statement

on departing seniors