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 11 matches on the schedule this week.
• Troy (10-4) enters the week on a five-match winning streak and one of two Sun Belt teams, joining Louisiana (13-3), with 10 or more wins this spring.
• South Alabama (5-5) is on a three-match winning streak. All five of the Jaguars' dual match victories have come at home.
• In the most recent
Oracle/Intercollegiate Tennis Association Division I Men's National Rankings unveiled on March 3, the Sun Belt had three singles players ranked in UTA freshman Angel 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 have 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 9-4 overall record in 2019-20, including a 4-2 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 13-1 in dual match record in singles and a 20-4 overall singles record.
• Diaz earned the first ITA national ranking of his career. This spring, he has yet to drop a singles match with a perfect 5-0 record playing primarily at the No. 1 or No. 2 position. Including the fall, Diaz is 12-4 and has two ranked wins. He is also a perfect 4-0 in doubles matches so far this spring and holds a 7-4 overall doubles record.
• Georgia Southern junior Pascal Wagemaker leads the way in singles wins at one position this spring with an 11-1 mark at the No. 3 spot.
• 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
Pelayo Antuña, Troy (Jr., Gijon, Spain)
Troy junior Pelayo Antuña went a combined 5-0 in singles and doubles to lead the Trojans to three wins and extend their winning streak to five in a row. Antuña won both of his singles matches at the No. 1 spot in straight sets – 6-1, 6-2 over Alabama A&M's Fermin Ruiz Gespo and 6-2, 6-3 over Chattanooga's Niklas Gerdes. He partnered with freshman Carles Anton to earn two doubles wins at the No. 2 position and one at the No. 1 spots to move their doubles winning streak to four-straight matches. For the spring, Antuña is 8-4 in singles and 12-1 in doubles.
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
UPCOMING SCHEDULE
Wednesday, March 4
UTA at Sacramento State, 4 p.m.
Friday, March 6
1-UTA vs. UC Davis, Noon
Appalachian State at Charlotte, 2 p.m.
Troy at Jackson State, 2 p.m.
1-UTA vs. Portland/Nevada, 6 p.m.
Saturday, March 7
1-UTA vs. TBD, TBD
Georgia State at North Florida, 9 a.m.
Appalachian State at North Florida, 2 p.m.
Sunday, March 8
Georgia State at Charlotte, Noon
Georgia Southern at Winthrop, 1 p.m.
Tuesday, March 10
Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, 2 p.m.
All Times are Central and Subject to Change
KEY:
1-Golden State Invite, Sacramento, Calif.