ITA/USTA South Central Regional Results
ABILENE - After battling through almost a dozen rounds of top-flight competition, Wildcats Borja Cortés,
Hans Hach,
Julia Mongin and
Brittney Reed all left the outdoor courts of Abilene Christian's Eager Tennis Pavilion Monday night as the ITA/USTA South Central Region champions.
Mongin, a senior and four-time all-America, today was crowned regional singles champion for the third straight year and earned a second doubles title. Mongin's first was won with former Wildcat Jaclyn Walker in the fall in 2010, and tonight's championship was won alongside Reed, a sophomore and defending Lone Star Conference Freshman of the Year.
Hach, another four-time all-America for the Wildcats, matched Mongin's accomplishments as he followed a thrilling 4-6, 6-2, 6-2 comeback in singles over Cameron's Nicolai Ferrigno, with a third-set tiebreak doubles victory with Cortés, who is in his second semester as a Wildcat.
The quartet's collective reward is a trip to the ITA/USTA Small College Championships, which takes place the weekend of Oct. 10-13 in Mobile, Ala. Hach, Mongin and the doubles team of
Micah Hermsdorf and
Hannah Kelley represented the Wildcats there last year.
A native of Culiacan, Mexico, Hach has earned two of his four all-America citations in doubles with two different partners (Jake Hendrie and
Nick Plum), and may well on his way to a third if he and Cortés continue to win with regularity as they have this fall. This tandem played just once together last spring, but since being paired up in mid-September, they've won the Aggie Invitational at New Mexico State and finished as the runner-up to Wichita State at The Midland Racquet Club Collegiate Invitational.
Hach is humble when trying to explain his success in doubles - he's 50-5 lifetime in the spring - and offers not much more than what he has is a gift, but Cortés considers him a tremendous motivator, competitor and teacher.
"I'm really learning a lot from him," said the Barcelona native. "He corrects me on my position, shows me where to hit and to place myself, and he picks me up when I'm down mentally. I know if I keep listening to him, it's just going to keep getting better for me."
Hach and Cortés started their draw Sunday with consecutive 8-2 wins before being challenged late in the night by the Midwestern State duo of Colby Meeks and Luke Joyce, 9-8 (6). They then disposed of Cameron's Ferrigno and Duje Janjic in today's semifinals, 6-2, 6-4, before holding off the defending NAIA champions from Oklahoma Christian, Bruno Tiberti and Martin Poboril, 6-4, 3-6, 10-6.
The top-seeded Poboril and Tiberti were slightly more rested by the time tonight's finals started. The Eagle duo Sunday received a first-round bye due to their seeding and later defeated pairs from McMurry and Incarnate Word by scores of 8-2 and 8-4. Their Monday semifinal against teammates Josip Smolian and Paulo Roessle then was cut short after one Eagle was forced to retire due to injury.
Oklahoma Christian equally was strong in singles as Poboril and Barbora Bozkova both made it all the way to the semifinals where they respectively lost to Hach and Mongin. Hach defeated the Czech Republic product, 6-0, 6-2, but Mongin fell in an early hole vs. Bozkova before rallying to win, 0-6, 6-2, 6-1. Mongin's victory over the Czech native then set the stage for a swift, 6-0, 6-1, triumph over former Arkansas State No. 1 and current St. Mary's Rattler Mariana Rong.
Rong advanced to the finals behind a 7-5, 1-6, 6-2 win over ACU's
Micah Hermsdorf.
"In my head, I was playing every shot and every point for ACU and my teammates," Mongin said. "Some of my opponents beat the girls on my team, and I wanted to avenge their losses. I guess it was a good goal to have."
Bozkova, who was unseeded, reached the semifinals after upsetting No. 5 seed Julia Puckhaber of Cameron, 6-2, 6-3, and looked well on her way to ending Mongin's reign as regional champion. But after meeting with head coach
Hutton Jones in between sets, Mongin detected the weaknesses in Bozkova's game and began to exploit them.
"She's a great player and I missed a lot of shots in that first set, but then coach came to me with a plan and it worked," Mongin said. "I found her weakness, but at the same time stayed consistent with my shots and remained positive. Every match this weekend I tried to out-serve my opponent and be in control."
Bozkova met Mongin again in the doubles finals, this time with her partner Angie Torres, who ironically enough lost to Reed, 6-3, 6-2, in the first round. The rematch was a bit anti-climatic as the ACU tandem rather convincingly won both sets, 6-3, 6-3. The Wildcats jumped out to a 4-1 lead in the first set before letting Oklahoma Christian back in at 4-3, and then in the second set, won the final four points after trailing, 3-2.
Hach's road to the singles championship featured three matches against Oklahoma Christian, including the semifinals vs. Poboril, plus first and second-round contests vs. Clay Sandefur of Arkansas-Ft. Smith and Meeks of Midwestern State. The junior was locked-in for the first five matches, winning each time in straight sets, but received a bit of a shock in the first set from the sophomore Ferrigno, who will likely take over the Aggies' No. 1 spot left vacated by Thomas Peixoto.
Ferrigno, more than any other opponent Hach faced this weekend, produced a wicked and varied serve, and often possessed the ability to return Hach's shots from the base line and service area corners. But down the stretch he could no longer keep up with Hach's demanding style of play.
"I don't know if there was a certain point when I knew I had the match won, but I was determined to make him play and work at every turn," he said. "I've won this event now three times, but I think this one feels the best because it's my last. I worked hard this whole summer to win this event and it paid off. I wanted this one badly."
Before making their trip to Mobile, Hach and company will be in action again this coming weekend. The men's team heads north to Boise State, while the women venture south to Rice.
