PLANO, TX – In a week filled with weather delays and match relocations the men's tennis team found themselves playing in four championship matches in the National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA) Men's National Tournament on Friday.
Sergio Garcia (Bogota, Columbia) dropped his opening match of the No. 1 singles tournament to 6-2, 6-1 to Austreberto Carlon (Mesa, AZ) and rallied in the quarterfinals of the consolation bracket to pick up an 8-2 win over Mike Sims (Lake County, IL). Garcia quickly took care of business against Miguel Gamborino (Jacksonville, TX) in an 8-0 victory to advance to Friday's championship match.
In a back-and-forth match, Sebastian Gamez-Para (Wallace State, AL) grabbed a late two-point advantage to pick up the 8-6 win over Garcia to claim the No. 1 singles consolation championship.
In the No. 4 singles consolation championship match, Jacambrian Madlock (Tupelo) and Nico Zumba (Iowa Central) fought to an 8-8 tie before Zumba was able to find the win in the tiebreaker.
Madlock fell into the consolation bracket after dropping a 6-4, 6-3 decision to Kenny Herrmann (Lake County, IL) in his opening match of the tournament. Madlock bounced back with an 8-2 win over Dylan Mulstay (Paradise Valley, AZ) in the quarterfinals and an 8-5 win over Ian Gordan (East Central, MS) in the semifinals of the consolation bracket.
Garcia teamed with Rhonzo Olaechea (Lima, Peru) in the No. 1 doubles tournament. The duo dropped their first match of the tournament 6-2, 7-5 to Connor Coots and Gamez-Para (Wallace State, AL) to move to the consolation bracket.
They picked up an 8-4 win over Austin Atwood and Kyele Mossman (Kaskaskia, IL) in the quarterfinals and an 8-3 win over Preston Engel and Daniel Ferguson (Sauk Valley, IL) in the semifinals. In Friday's championship match, the duo saw the match slip away late in an 8-4 loss to Wesley Fontaine and Seth Macute (Gulf Coast, MS).
Torean King (Macon) and Russell Moorman (Pontotoc) advanced to the No. 3 doubles consolation bracket before dropping an 8-1 decision to Victor Pestana and Yordi Ponce (Barton, KS).
King and Moorman dropped a 6-2, 6-1 decision to Merlin Bolema and Theo Devals (Iowa Central) to open tournament play. The duo earned a hard fought 8-5 victory over Drake Delvalle and Emmanuel Warner (Marion Military, AL) in the quarterfinals before getting a walkover victory against Sean Flynn and Pabilito Poleo (Harford, MD) to advance to the championship match.
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