2019-20 Sun Belt Men’s Tennis News and Notes:
Standings | Composite Schedule | Stats
 
AROUND #SUNBELTTEN
• Sun Belt Conference men’s tennis has a slate of 17 matches on the schedule this week, highlighted by the first conference contest of the spring season.
 
• Troy (11-4) enters the week on a six-match winning streak. Freshman Carles Anton has won his last two singles matches and remains undefeated (8-0) at the No. 3 position. He holds a 14-1 record in dual matches. Anton and junior Pelayo Antuña has the best overall doubles record (14-2) in the Sun Belt with a league-best 8-1 mark at the No. 2 spot.
 
• UTA (9-3) is on a four-match winning streak. The Mavericks have a pair of doubles teams with 4-1 records this spring – freshman Solano Caffarena and junior Eduard Simo as one duo and sophomore Miguel Cabrera and freshman Angel Diaz as the other.
 
• South Alabama (5-5) puts its three-match winning streak on the line this week with a trio of road matches. The Jaguars have been off the courts since Feb. 15 and play their next seven matches away from home. South Alabama's next home match is not until April 4 vs. UTA.
 
• Winner of two in a row, Louisiana (13-3) in back in action this week for the first time since Feb. 29. Freshman Stefan Gazo (6-0) and junior Silvio Cocito-Monoc (3-0) remain undefeated in singles play so far this spring.
 
• Georgia Southern junior Pascal Wagemaker continues the way in singles wins at one position in dual matches with a 12-1 mark at the No. 3 spot.
 
• In the most recent Oracle/Intercollegiate Tennis Association Division I Men's National Rankings released on March 3, the Sun Belt had three singles players ranked in Diaz at 110th, Georgia State junior Vazha Shubladze at 123rd and Troy senior Oskar Michalek at 125th and Georgia State junior Andrei Duarte and sophomore Roberts Grinvalds ranked 28th in doubles.
 
• Duarte and Grinvalds achieved the highest ITA doubles ranking in school history. The No. 28 ranking surpasses the previous high of No. 38 set by Victor Valente and Lucas Santa Ana in 2013. The Panthers duo own Duarte and Grinvalds own a 10-5 overall record in 2019-20, including a 5-3 mark on the dual season including a ranked win over then-No. 47 Francois Musitelli and Jannik Giesse of Old Dominion in the season opener. Shubladze jumped into the singles rankings on the strength of three nationally-ranked victories.
 
• Michalek is the first Trojan, individual or team, since 2016 to earn an ITA national ranking. He is the first individual Trojan to earn an ITA national singles ranking since Feb. 10, 2016, when Daniel Bustamante made his ranking debut at No. 114. Michalek sports a 14-1 in dual match record in singles and a 21-4 overall singles record. His 21 singles wins lead the Sun Belt.
 
• Diaz earned the first ITA national ranking of his career. This spring, he has yet to drop a singles match with a perfect 8-0 record playing primarily at the No. 1 or No. 2 position. Including the fall, Diaz is 15-4 and has two ranked wins. He is also 7-1 in doubles matches so far this spring and holds a 10-3 overall doubles record.
 
• Coastal Carolina head coach Chris Powers earned his 200th career coaching victory in the Chanticleers' dramatic 4-3 win over Presbyterian on Feb. 9. Powers is the winningest head coach in the program's history.
 
• The 2020 Sun Belt Men's Tennis Championship returns to the Peachtree City Tennis Center in Peachtree City, Ga., on April 16-19.
 
ATHLETE OF THE WEEK
Quentin Coulaud, Georgia State (Sr., Saint-Brieuc, France)
Georgia State senior Quentin Coulaud went a perfect 3-0, including a 2-0 mark in singles and 1-0 in doubles. Coulaud native opened with a 6-4, 6-3 victory over North Florida's Dominik Barton at the No. 2 position. The next day against Charlotte, he and senior Bailey Showers collected a 7-5 win at No. 2 doubles before grabbing a 7-5, 6-2 at No. 1 singles against Henry Lieberman. Coulaud and Showers have won five matches in a row and are one of only two doubles tandems in the Sun Belt Conference to own 10 or more wins in doubles competition this season. In doubles, Coulaud and Showers are 10-4 overall and 6-3 this spring. In singles, Coulaud is 6-6 this spring.
 
2020 Weekly Award Winners
January 22: Ivailo Keremedchiev, Louisiana
January 29: Pascal Wagemaker, Georgia Southern
February 5: Alexandros Roumpis, Georgia Southern
February 12: Murphy McCullough, Georgia Southern
February 19: Jan Galka, Louisiana
February 26: Carles Anton, Troy
March 4: Pelayo Antuña, Troy
March 11: Quentin Coulaud, Georgia State
 
UPCOMING SCHEDULE
Wednesday, March 11
Coastal Carolina at Bethune-Cookman, 10 a.m.
South Alabama at UCF, 5 p.m.
 
Thursday, March 12
1-Appalachian State vs. James Madison, 11 a.m.
1-Appalachian State vs. Xavier, 6 p.m.

Friday, March 13
Youngstown State at Georgia Southern, 9 a.m.
Coastal Carolina at Stetson, 1 p.m.
Abraham Baldwin at Georgia Southern, 1:30 p.m.
South Alabama at South Florida, 2 p.m.
Louisiana at Northern Arizona, 2 p.m.
 
Saturday, March 14
2-South Alabama vs. North Florida, 10 a.m.
3-Troy vs. Youngstown State, 1 p.m.
The Citadel at UTA, 5 p.m.
 
Sunday, March 15
4-Louisiana vs. Air Force, 11 a.m.
VCU at Georgia State, Noon
*Troy at Georgia Southern, 12:30 p.m.
 
Monday, March 16
Oral Roberts at Coastal Carolina, 9 a.m.
 
Tuesday, March 17
Elon at Coastal Carolina, Noon
 
All Times are Central and Subject to Change
*Sun Belt Conference contest
 
KEY:
1-Orlando, Fla.
2-Tampa, Fla.
3-Statesboro, Ga.
4-Flagstaff, Ariz.