#9 Men's Tennis Reaches the Quarterfinals of the NAIA Tournament
Mobile, Al. - After having a very successful season on the court, Reinhardt Men's Tennis qualified for the NAIA National Tournament. Twenty-four of the best NAIA college tennis teams from around the country were selected to compete in the five-day tournament. Reinhardt was ranked #9 at the close of the season and that is what seed they would take in the tournament with the first matchup against the Braves of Ottawa ranked #24.
The Eagles started their tournament on Tuesday morning with an early 9 am CST start. They did not have much trouble taking out Ottawa winning both the doubles and singles matches finishing with a 4-0 score.
Here are the winners of those matches:
Doubles Winners:
#1 Federico Zeiter / Nikolai Hensburg
#3 Juan Vallejo / Pol Masafret
Singles Winners:
#1 Luciano Fisicaro
#3 Pol Masafret
#4 Juan Vallejo
#5 Said Santin
#6 Federico Zeiter
By winning against Ottawa, the Eagles moved on to the second round where they faced a tougher opponent, Wiliam Carey who was ranked #7 in the final NAIA rankings of the season. For the tournament, William Carey were seeded #8 and had a bye in the opening round. In a minor upset, Reinhardt took the match winning 4-1 and a chance to play the #1 ranked team in the NAIA, Georgia Gwinnett.
Here are the winners for the William Carey matchup:
Doubles Winners:
#2 Luciano Fisicaro / Zak Khalil
#3 Pol Masafret / Juan Vallejo
Singles Winners:
#1 Luciano Fisicaro
#2 Zak Khalil
#3 Pol Masafret
#4 Juan Vallejo
#5 Said Santin
Unfortunately, the tournament ended with the quarterfinal matchup with Georgia Gwinnett who won 4-0 over the Eagles. Georgia Gwinnett went on to win the NAIA Championship with a 4-0 score over the Seahawks of Keiser University. Reinhardt wraps up its 2024 season with a successful run in the NAIA Tournament and a great regular season led by Luchi Fisicaro and Zak Khalil. They have several younger players like Juan Vallejo, Pol Masafret, and Said Santin that will help the Eagles moving forward.
For a complete look at the tournament standings, please see the following link:
https://www.naia.org/sports/mten/2023-24/files/2024_MTennis_Bracket_FINAL.pdf