April 24, 2009
#11 Aggies fall in LSC title match
WICHITA FALLS, Texas (April 24) – Unable to make it consecutive Lone Star Conference Championship titles, the #11 Cameron Aggie men’s tennis team (16-9) fell in a hard-fought match today in Wichita Falls, Texas. The Abilene Christian Wildcats (24-7) defeated the Aggies 5-3 in the championship match of the LSC tournament, played at the Midwestern State University Tennis Complex.
“I thought we played pretty well today,” Head Coach James Helvey said. “It is good to get back to the conference title match, especially since we have such a tough conference where everyone is nationally ranked. Our top goal is to win the tournament, so we are certainly disappointed it didn’t go our way.”
Cameron and Abilene Christian are the #1 and #2 seeds in the region, respectively, and the Wildcats are ranked #19 nationally. Cameron won the regular season match-up this year between the teams in decisive fashion, 7-2.
Despite losing today’s championship match, the Aggies still brought home a trophy as the 2008-2009 Lone Star Conference Regular Season Men’s Tennis Champions.
“The regular season title definitely means a lot,” Coach Helvey said. “I believe it’s the tougher of the two championships (regular season and tournament) because you are playing every team rather than just one or two matches. It’s more of an accomplishment to beat everybody in the regular season.”
Today’s match started with the Aggie men in a 2-1 hole after the first three doubles matches finished. CU’s lone tandem victory was at the #2 doubles spot where Cristian Easton and Thomas Peixoto easily disposed of ACU’s Bryan Joiner and Hutton Jones by the score 8-1.
The Aggies went on to drop the #1 doubles match 8-5, and the #3 doubles match 8-4. Cameron’s Daniel Pazos and Diego Trojano were dealt a rare doubles loss in the afternoon’s top match.
In singles, Lone Star Conference Player of the Year Daniel Pazos exacted revenge and won his #1 singles match over Eldad Campbell, 6-1 and 6-3.
The only other singles victory for CU came at the #6 spot where Thomas Peixoto knocked off Quenton Peterson-Paul in straight sets, 6-4 and 6-4.
“A couple of our players really stood out strong for us,” Coach Helvey said. “Daniel Pazos, who is ranked #14 nationally, once again stepped up and won at #1 singles and Thomas Peixoto played big as well. He had a big match at #2 doubles and at #6 singles. Those two were above everybody today.”
Cameron eventually lost the #3, #4, and #5 singles matches. Cristian Easton appeared to be making a comeback in the #2 singles match, but before he could finish the two-set split and force a tie-breaker the match was called due to ACU’s victory.
CU’s men’s tennis team has already locked up a berth to the regional rounds of the NCAA’s national tournament, but they must now await word from the Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) on the upcoming regional rankings.
“My senses are gearing up for the regional rounds of the national tournament,” Coach Helvey said. “We’ll absolutely use today’s match as motivation as we get ready for regionals.”
If the Aggies remain the region’s top seed, they will host the first two rounds of the national tournament. If they fall in the rankings, they will be headed to either Abilene (ACU) or Austin, Texas (St. Edward’s).