Quote from Coach Paschal
MOBILE, Ala. – The Embry-Riddle men's tennis team made program history on Saturday as the top-ranked Eagles defeated No. 2 Auburn Montgomery 5-4 to capture the first national title in program history. Playing in one of the most exciting matches in championship history, the Eagles fell behind after doubles, but battled back to win four singles matches in dramatic fashion and earn the title of 2013 NAIA National Champion.
Auburn Montgomery earned the first point of the day as third-ranked Bence Toth and Tim Hewitt downed top-ranked
Chris Freeman and
Deni Zmak 8-5 at the top spot. The Warhawks further extended their lead when Nicolas Pinones-Haltenhoff and Miguel Grifol topped
Simon Felix and
Kevin Chaouat 8-4 at No. 3 doubles.
At No. 2 doubles,
Anthony Grasso and
Patrick Besch went up 4-3, but eventually found themselves trailing the AUM tandem of Othmane Lalami and Josh Reason 7-6. Grasso and Besch staved off match point by registering a break, then held serve and broke the AUM duo again to record their second win as a doubles team, 9-7, and make the team score 2-1.
As he did all throughout the tournament,
Simon Felix made quick work of his opponent at the No. 5 spot and pulled the Eagles level with a 6-2, 6-1 defeat of Zinelabidine Joiuni. The Warhawks reclaimed the one-point edge when Othmane Lalami downed
David Spennare 6-4, 6-1 on court six.
Once again, the Eagles were able to get the equalizer as 13
th-ranked Freeman bested Toth in straight sets, 6-2, 6-3 at the third spot. The contest at No. 1 singles was a rematch of the 2012 ITA/NAIA national singles championship between Besch and Pinones-Haltenhoff. In the fall, Besch was able to get the better of the AUM sophomore to capture the national singles crown, but on Saturday, Pinones-Haltenhoff held off Besch 7-5 in the first set and took the second 6-1 to put the Warhawks back on top, 4-3.
At No. 4 singles, Grasso took a 4-1 lead over Grifol, but the AUM sophomore fought back to take the first set 6-4. Grasso remained resilient, however and won the second set by the same margin to force a decisive third set. In the third, Grasso jumped out to another 4-1 lead and at 5-2 was serving for the match, but once again, Grifol was able to close the gap by winning the next two games to make it 5-4. With the vocal encouragement of his teammates behind him, Grasso broke Grifol in the next service game to win one of the biggest matches of his career to date, taking the set 6-4.
With the match tied at 4-4, all eyes turned to the last remaining contest on the court, a battle between Zmak and Hewitt at No. 2 singles. Zmak was victorious in the first set, downing Hewitt 6-4. The second set remained on serve until Hewitt broke Zmak to go up 5-4 and then held to force a third set. Up 5-4 in the third, Hewitt won two of the first three points of Zmak's service game and was at championship point, but Zmak drilled back-to-back aces on the way to winning that game and tie the score at 5-5. Each player held serve in their next game to make it 6-6 and force a tiebreaker.
Zmak won three of the first four tiebreak points to go up 3-1, but Hewitt answered to tie things up at 3-3. From that point, a back-and-forth battle ensued, resulting in a 7-7 tie, which included Zmak saving two match points. Zmak won the next serve to go up 8-7 and on the next point, he returned Hewitt's serve with a backhand and hit a backhand slice that Hewitt was unable to return to win his 20th match of the year and secure the Eagles' national championship.
During the trophy presentation that followed the match, ERAU Head Coach Dave Paschal was named the NAIA Coach of the Year, while Zmak received the Ward-Ballinger Award, presented to the individual at the national tournament who exhibited outstanding play sportsmanship and leadership.
Celebrating the 25th anniversary of men's tennis on Embry-Riddle's Daytona Beach campus, the Eagles accomplished their goal of being the last team standing at the end of the 2013 campaign. In addition to capturing the national title, the Eagles set a program record for wins, closing out the season at 24-2 and ending on an 18-match win streak.
