MOBILE, Ala. – Day one of the 2012 NAIA Men’s Tennis National Championships is in the books and unfortunately so is the season for No. 17 Warner University. The Royals lost their first round match to No. 16 Cumberland University (Tenn.) 9-0 ending their historic season with a 13-5 record.
The win-loss totals are a school record for the Royals who reached the National Tournament for the first time in school history after finishing second in their first-ever The Sun Conference Tournament.
The Royals and Bulldogs opened tournament play in doubles action as Juanes Espinel and Akharis Sa-ardphanchai were the first tandem at the No. 3 spot to drop their set 8-6.
Julian Ramirez-Luna and Vitor Schepper faced off against 19th-ranked Antonio Manuel Marcelo and Evan Sanna at the No. 1 doubles spot. The Warner duo was defeated 8-5 to give the Bulldogs a 2-0 advantage early on.
In the final doubles match, Patrick Frandji and Amar Vora lost their tiebreaker (7-1) and dropped their set 9-8 against Devin Crotzer and Na’im Azhar.
As the Royals transitioned into singles play, Espinel was the first to go down, losing 6-2, 6-1 at the No. 5 position. The Bulldogs got the fifth and deciding point in the No. 4 singles match between Warner’s Sa-ardphanchai and Bulldog Pedro Rodrigues. Rodrigues cruised to a 6-1, 6-2 victory.
Ramirez-Luna, who is ranked 30th-nationally in singles, dropped his No. 1 match to 29th-ranked Marcelo 6-4, 6-4. Amar Vora, playing just his third singles match of the season, needed a 10-point tiebreaker to determine his match with Cristhian Hernandez after the two split their first two sets 6-1, 4-6. Hernandez won the tiebreaker 10-4 to take the match.
Schepper and Frandji were the last Royals to finish as Schepper lost at the No. 3 spot 6-3, 6-3. Frandji was defeated 3-6, 6-4, 7-6 (5) at No. 2 singles end the Royals’ season.
It was the second time this season the Royals fell to the Bulldogs. Back on March 6th, the Royals also lost 9-0 to Cumberland in Winter Haven, Fla.