May 15, 2008
SEMIFINAL RESULTS
MOBILE, Ala--- The 2008 NAIA Men's Tennis National Championship match Friday, May 16 will feature Auburn-Montgomery and Fresno Pacific, after the two schools advanced to the final day of the tournament by winning in the semifinals at the Copeland-Cox Tennis Center Thursday.
Top-seeded Auburn-Montgomery defeated Azusa Pacific 5-1 to stay alive for a chance at their third-straight championship. The Senators won No. 1 and No. 3 doubles by a combined 16-3, before Azusa Pacific countered with an 8-5 win in No. 2 doubles by Patrick Kur and Mathias Weber.
The Senators then picked up the deciding points with singles wins by Daniel Plasa at No. 1, Victor Sanaki Papi at No. 3 and Javier Redondo at No. 4 to advance.
Fresno Pacific meanwhile, overcame solid play from the top Embry-Riddle players to advance to the final two. In doubles action, the tandems of Marco Foelz/Victor Medina and Fabio Silva/Mazime Adam picked up wins at No. 2 and No. 3 for the Sunbirds, but Embry-Riddle's Mislav Hizak and Konstantin Lazarov rallied to salvage a point. The Sunbirds were up 7-6, one point away from a clean sweep of the doubles matches, but the Eagles' duo rallied and won 9-8(7-4).
But, aside from a dominating 6-0, 6-1 win in No. 1 singles by Hizak, the Eagles were overmatched in singles play and feel at No. 3, No. 5 and No. 6 singles to end the match.
Fresno Pacific advances to the championship match for the first time in school history and will have a tall task waiting for them in the Senators of Auburn-Montgomery, who appear in the title bout for the 13th time in school history and the seventh time in the last ten years.
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