Tuesday, April 13, 2010

MACON, Ga. – The 2010 Atlantic Sun Men’s and Women’s Tennis Conference Championship begins Thursday morning with matchups from the Mandy Stoll Tennis Center on the campus of Stetson University.

A matchup between No. 4 Campbell and No. 5 Jacksonville at 9 a.m. Thursday begins tournament play in the A-Sun Men’s Tennis Championship. Davy Sum, a native of Strasbourg, France, leads the Fighting Camels charge, as the junior earned preseason player of the year honors. Sum opened the fall season with a trip to the A Flight finals of the UNCW Invitational, won the individual title at the Elon Fall Invitational by winning three matches on the weekend, advanced to the final 16 of the ITA Carolinas Regional. The senior started out the dual season with 11 straight singles victories, and has ranked as high as No. 56 in doubles play along with partner Dominik Kaniewski. The business administration major has tallied a 25-6 record in overall singles play, including going 17-4 at No. 1 singles and 15-4 in No. 1 doubles. Meanwhile, Jacksonville’s Victor Vaz has paced the Dolphins during regular season play in the No. 1 position for all but two matches. At the start of conference play, the Campinas, Brazil native won eight matches in a row, including victories versus such league foes in FGCU, Belmont, Lipscomb, Mercer and Kennesaw State. Nine of Vaz’s 15 wins this season have come in straight sets.

At 11:30 a.m. Thursday, No. 3 UNF faces No. 6 Belmont in the second and final men’s match of the day. After completing a four-year transition to Division I, UNF has the opportunity to experience the Championship for the first time. The Ospreys made the field of six and now sit three wins away from their first NCAA Tournament. Head coach Igal Buberman’s squad finished the regular season with a 17-7 overall mark and a 7-3 tally in conference play. Freshmen Moritz Buerchner and Daniel Sotomarino both stand as strong forces for the Ospreys. Buerchner won his flight at the Georgia Southern Invitational during the fall season and tallied a 15-11 mark overall during regular-season play, including a 9-4 record at No. 1 singles. The Haimhausen, Germany native also owns a 14-11 doubles record, including a 10-8 tally in duals. Playing with partner Leonardo Nahar, primarily at No. 3, the duo has a 7-3 record. Fellow rookie Sotomarino won his flight at the Florida State Invitational and owns a 17-5 record in doubles and 11-4 mark in duals. Belmont’s Rodrigo Amaral paces the Bruins in A-Sun play with a league tally of 7-3, in additional to an overall record of 15-11.

ETSU, the three-time defending conference tournament champions, enters as the No. 1 seed in the Atlantic Sun Men’s Tennis Championship, and will open with a meeting with the winner of the Fighting Camels/Dolphins at 9 a.m. Friday. Sander Gille leads the Buccaneers with a 14-6 dual match record as the Keerbergen, Belgium native has posted wins against players from eight nationally ranked teams. Gille also leads ETSU in doubles wins and stands unbeaten in A-Sun action (10-0). The sophomore business major defeated No. 1 players from USC Upstate, Stetson, UNF, Belmont and Lipscomb and competed in the prestigious ITA All-American last fall. Gille lost only one set in A-Sun play the entire season.

Stetson will serve as host for the 2010 A-Sun Tennis Championships for the fifth time since 2005 and will face the winner of UNF/Belmont. The Hatters concluded the regular season with a 19-4 overall record and an 8-2 mark in A-Sun Conference play to enter as the second seed. Head coach Pierre Pilote will pin his team’s title hopes on Maksim Levanovich and Didrik Berg. Levanovich compiled a 19-3 overall record and went 9-1 in A-Sun matches, including a perfect 10-0 overall tally when playing No. 2 singles. The Minsk, Belarus native tallied an outstanding doubles record at 17-3 overall and 9-1 against A-Sun opponents with partner Cesare Gallo. As a freshman, Berg has slid right into the No. 1 doubles slot, as the rookie joined the Hatters in January 2010. Berg owns an 17-5 overall mark and 7-3 record in A-Sun matches after playing mostly No. 3 and No. 4 singles, in addition to a 15-8 record in doubles and 6-4 mark in A-Sun play with partner Chris Swanteson.

A matchup between No. 3 Stetson and No. 6 Mercer at 2 p.m. Thursday begins tournament play in the A-Sun Women’s Tennis Championship. Carolina de los Santos and Valentina Galbarini lead the Hatters as the team concluded the regular season with a 17-6 overall record and an 8-2 mark in A-Sun Conference play to finish as the third seed. De los Santos finished regular-season play at 15-6 overall and 6-4 in A-Sun matches. The freshman has played throughout the top half, but has usually seen action at the No. 1 position, owning a 10-3 record. In doubles play with partner Galbarini, the duo saw a 17-5 mark to earn a national ranking of 57, and the pair has held a ranking for a majority of the season, including a high of No. 37. The freshman from Montevideo, Uruguay has earned five, 6-0, 6-0, shutout wins, including two in league play and finished as an ITA Southeast region doubles semifinalist in the fall. Galbarini finished with a 13-6 overall and 8-2 tally in A-Sun matches, in addition to a 10-1 record at No. 2 singles with seven straight victories. The senior native of Montevideo, Uruguay also finished as an ITA Southeast region doubles semifinalist at the in the fall.

Mercer’s Jennifer Lada earned player of the week honors for the week of February 3 for the Bears. In No. 1 Singles, Lada tallied a 6-9 record. In the Bears' season opener, Lada led Mercer to a dominating win against Alabama State (7-0). The Biarritz, France native scored a 6-0, 6-1 win versus ASU's Brittany Turner. Lada then teamed with Amalia Bugge to crush the Hornets' No. 2 doubles team, 8-0. Anna Wieslander owns an 8-8 mark in No. 2. In Mercer’s regular-season A-Sun finale, the senior defeated Kennesaw State’s Morgan Carney, 6-3, 6-3, in the Bears’ only singles victory on the afternoon. Wieslander and partner Priscilla Dias also won against the Owls’ Holton/Palider, 8-0, to earn a 9-7 overall mark for the season.

In another first round match, No. 4 Campbell meets with No. 5 Kennesaw State at 4:30 p.m. Junior Lisa Sutton leads the Lady Camels at the No. 1 position. Sutton started out the season having won nine matches in a row in doubles play with partner Borislava Nikolova and owns a 6-3 mark in league play. The journalism major from Kelsall, England won two doubles matches during the Elon Fall Invitational and advanced to the round of 16 at the ITA Regionals with Nikolova. Kennesaw State’s Vera Shkundina has led the Lady Owls throughout the entire season, as the Ufa, Russia native went 14-7 at No. 1. Shkundina owns an 8-2 tally over her last ten matches, including winning her last four.

At 2 p.m. Friday, No. 2 UNF faces the winner of the Hatters/Bears at 2 p.m. This season, under head coach Rodrigo Puebla, the Ospreys finished with a nearly perfect overall mark of 18-2, only falling to nonconference opponent College of Charleston and league foe ETSU. Sophomore Aline Berkenbrock stands undefeated in singles matches on the season, having beaten nationally ranked players from ETSU, UCF, Purdue, Stetson and College of Charleston. In doubles play, Berkenbrock owns a 21-7 tally on the season, including a 10-0 mark in league play.

ETSU, the 2009 conference tournament champion, enters as the No. 1 seed in the Atlantic Sun Women’s Tennis Championship with a meeting with the winner of the Lady Camels/Lady Owls at 4:30 p.m. Friday. Preseason Player of the Year Yevgeniya Stupak leads the Lady Buccaneers charge with career wins over an NCAA Singles Champion and 33 nationally ranked ladies. Stupak owns victories over seven nationally ranked players and 13 players from nationally ranked teams and tallied only one unranked loss this year.

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The Atlantic Sun Conference is an 11-member league committed to Building Winners for Life. The A-Sun stands for achievement with integrity in both the academic and athletic arenas, with a focus on the balance between the two for our student-athletes. Headquartered in Macon, Ga., the A-Sun boasts six of the top eight media markets in the Southeast. The A-Sun includes a blend of the most prestigious and dynamic private and public institutions in the region: Belmont University, Campbell University, East Tennessee State University, Florida Gulf Coast University, Jacksonville University, Kennesaw State University, Lipscomb University, Mercer University, University of North Florida, University of South Carolina Upstate and Stetson University.