Top 25 Moments of 2012-13

Over the month of July, the Top 25 Moments of the 2012-13 athletic season will be remembered each day, with the #1 moment being revealed on July 26th.

Oct. 13, 2012

MOBILE, Ala. – Embry-Riddle junior Patrick Besch etched his name in the Embry-Riddle record books in the fall, winning the men's singles ITA/NAIA national title at the USTA/ITA National Small College Championships at the Mobile Tennis Center. For Besch, the victory marked the second national title of his Embry-Riddle career as he was part of the team that won the doubles crown in 2012.

The tournament's No. 2 seed, Besch faced top-seeded Nicholas Pinones of Auburn Montgomery in the championship match. Pinones, who comprised half of the doubles team that bested Besch and Simon Felix in the doubles title match on Friday, breezed through the preliminary rounds of the tournament, dropping just three games in two matches. But the AUM sophomore had a much tougher battle against Besch in the finals.

In the first set Besch was down 5-4, but with Pinones serving for the set, Besch broke Pinones, held serve and then broke again to win the first frame 7-5. Besch surged out a 5-2 lead, but Pinones registered two break points of his own and battled back to win the second 7-5.
 
In the third set, Besch grabbed the early lead again, but once again Pinones came back to knot the score at 5-5. Down 0-40 in his service game, Besch registered back-to-back aces to help him hold serve, but then his opponent also held to make the score 6-6 and force a tie-breaker.
 
Besch was at an early disadvantage in the tie-breaker as an official overrule of an out call gave him a point penalty. Despite the setback, Besch moved out to a 5-1 lead, but continuing with the day's theme, Pinones rallied to make the score 5-4. The battle for the next point featured a 20-ball rally that ended with an overhead slam by Besch to make the score 6-4. With Besch at match point, Pinones double faulted on his next serve to give Besch the championship.
 
"Today was a good win for Patrick," ERAU Head Coach Dave Paschal said following the match. "He didn't play really well in doubles yesterday, so it was really good to see him battle for the win."

Besch's national singles title brought the overall number of ITA National titles won by Embry-Riddle men's tennis to seven, including five singles and two doubles crowns.