TROJAN MEN'S TENNIS

Trojans Take 2 of 3 Over Weekend

03/08/2010

The Seminole State College Men's tennis team traveled to Temple, Texas on Friday and Saturday March 5th and 6th, to take on Temple Junior College and Laredo Community College.

The SSC men’s tennis team also came home with two wins and one loss.  On Friday, they had little trouble with the home team, NJCAA #10 Temple, by defeating them 8-1.  The Trojans on lost one match at #3 singles where sophomore Ryan Coffey lost a close 3 set match.  No other SSC player lost a set, and the Trojans won all three doubles matches with ease.

The Trojans had their hands full with the number 2 team Laredo.  LCC has won the past five national championships in a row, and have a great shot to win it again this year.  SSC would start off hot, by leading all three doubles matches midway through their pro sets.  However, they were unable to close them out and were only able to come away with one of the three matches in doubles.  The win was by Corey Huggins and Coffey, blasting Laredo’s #2 pair 8-1.  Martin Arguello and Mbonisi Ndimande lost a long three hour match at #1, and even had match points in the final set tiebreaker.  Coffey and Bryan Canavan lost three set matches that could have gone either way.

“Finally we were able to get some good match play in this weekend.  The weather couldn’t have been better, and we were able to actually see how well we were playing without other contributing factors.  The guys easily handled Temple, and then almost pulled a big upset over Laredo.  We were so close to almost beating Laredo with two matches that were lost only in tiebreakers, the dual could have gone either way.  I’m glad we got to play them though, and know what they have and how we can adjust next time.  We will play them again in Baytown in a couple of week, and are looking forward to the rematch,” said Nelson.

On Sunday the men picked up another win by downing Eastfield College on their home courts.  The Trojans did not lose a single game in the doubles matches and only three total in the singles matches.  Their record in now 8-3 overall.

SSC will compete against Collin County at home on Friday, March 12^th, at 1:00 p.m.

Trojans Make Noise at Nationals
 

11/4/09 - MOBILE, Alabama

The SSC doubles duo of Sophomore Martin Arguello and Freshman Mbonisi Ndimande finished as National Runner Up at the ITA Small College National Championships held in Mobile, Alabama.

The pair started off the tournament with a 6-2, 6-1 win over Meridian College’s Cangiano/Cepede on Thursday. Arguello and Ndimande then had to face teammates Ryan Coffey and Corey Huggins in the National Semi-finals, who also received an at large bid to Nationals after finishing as Runner Up in Regionals. Coffey and Huggins had won there Quarter-final match on Thursday against another team from Meridian College, Gabriele Nicotra and Jeremy Purdum by a score of 6-3, 6-3.

In the Semi-final match, both SSC teams would trade big points and take it to the wire, with Ndimande and Arguello squeaking out the win 4-6, 6-4, 12-10. “It was such a treat to sit back and watch both of our teams battle each other so closely. It was also a relief to know though that one of the teams would eventually win, and represent SSC in the National Championship.” Head Coach Brian Nelson

In the Championship, Arguello and Ndimande would face the team of Sinitsyn and Noguiera from Fresno City College, California. The SSC pair were able to break serve early in the first set, and held out to take the first set by a score of 7-5. Fresno would not give up though and came out hot in the second set and took that one 6-2. In the third and final set, SSC took the early lead 2-0. Ndimande and Arguello even had 2 break points to potentially go up 2 breaks and lead 3-0, but Fresno showed their toughness and held to make it 2-1. Fresno would then manage to play very strong and moved ahead to 5-2 in the final set, until SSC was able to battle back to make it 5-4. Martin Arguello served at 5-4 down, and had a 40-15 advantage to make the match 5-5, but SSC was unable to capitalize on the lead and eventually got broken to end the match. The final score ended up being 5-7, 6-2, 6-4 in favor of Fresno City College.

As mentioned above, Ryan Coffey and Corey Huggins of Seminole State also had a great showing at the Small College National Championships.After a fairly easy first round win over Meridian College, the SSC pair lost to eventual Runner-Up and teammates Mbonisi Ndimande and Martin Arguello in the Semi-Finals. This would move Coffey and Huggins into the 3^rd place match on Friday afternoon where they faced Carvalho/Baptista of Laredo Junior College from Texas. The Laredo men’s team has won the Men’s NJCAA National Team Championship the past 5 years in a row, so they are always tough to beat. Carvalho/Baptista were the overall #1 seed for this tournament, but were upset by Fresno College earlier in the day in the Semi-finals. Coffey and Huggins would come out flat in the opening set, losing it fast 6-1. After a short break after the first set, the SSC pair were able to come out and play at a much higher level and take the second set 6-1. For all rounds except for the finals, a Super Tie Break was played in place of a third set.  It was close all the way to the end, but the Laredo team were able to pull it out 10-7 in the Super. The final score was 6-1, 1-6, 10-7 in favor of Laredo’s Carvalho/Baptista.

“I was very proud of Ryan and Corey for the way they played at this tournament. They were only a couple of points away from beating Martin and Mbonisi  to make it to the Championship, so there was no shame in what they did. Then, after losing that heartbreaker match to their teammates, they were still able to come out and almost beat the #1 seed who had got upset and who is the #1 pair for Laredo College. This shows that we have some very strong doubles teams, since our #2 team was almost able to take out one of the best #1 pairs in the Nation!” said Head Coach Brian Nelson

Freshman Mbonisi Ndimande went 2-1 in singles play this past week at the Small College National Championships in Mobile, Alabama finishing in 5^th place. Ndimande only lost his Quarter-Final match against Kiril Sinitsyn from Fresno City College California by a score of 7-5; 6-3. Ndimande would them redeem himself with a win over Lloyd Bruce-Burgess from Cowley County CC who beat him just 2 weeks earlier in the Regional Final, this time Ndimande winning in 3 sets by a score of 3-6, 7-6, 6-2. On Saturday, Ndimande would play his final singles match for 5^th place. This time he would again lose the first set, but fight back to win the next two sets and the match to capture the 5^th place finish.

Trojan Men Have Strong Showing at ITA Regional

10/8/09 - OKLAHOMA CITY, Oklahoma

The Seminole State Men’s Tennis team had a strong showing at the Intercollegiate Tennis Association Regional Tournament in Oklahoma City. In Men’s Singles, five players made it all the way to the quarterfinals: Mbonisi Ndimande, Doyle Springett, Ryan Coffey, Martin Arguello, and Corey Huggins. Ndimande, Springett, and Arguello all continued their winning into the semi-finals. Ndimande made it to the championship match but fell short of winning it all. “Unfortunately we had to move the finals indoors this morning because of the weather,” said Head Coach Brian Nelson. “I hated that we had to go indoors because we never get to practice indoors unlike Cowley County who has the facilities to do so.” In doubles action, the Trojans had two teams make it into the semi-finals. Ndimande and Arguello, and Coffey and Huggins both won their semi-final matches and faced each other in the championship making it an all-SSC final. In the final match Ndimande and Arguello took the win 6-2, 7-6.