HOOVER, Ala. – The top-seeded ETSU men’s tennis squad (13-7) repeated as Southern Conference champion on Saturday afternoon, earning a 4-2 win over No. 3 seed Furman (10-12) in the 2021 SoCon Tennis Championship at the Hoover Met. The Bucs earned the SoCon’s automatic berth to the NCAA Men’s Tennis Championships.
The meeting between the squads was the seventh in a championship match and the third consecutive, while the championship was ETSU’s third straight. It was the seventh straight year the regular-season champion also won the tournament.
ETSU opened the match by taking the doubles point to jump out to a 1-0 lead. The Bucs’ duo of Dimitri Badra and Miguel Este, playing at No. 2, finished first with 6-3 win over Furman’s Benjamin Cahill and Ivan Mitric. Furman, however, followed with a doubles win at No. 1 as Henrik Atlevi and Jake Bhangdia, ranked 89th nationally, downed Juan Lugo and Frazier Rengifo, 6-3. It came down to No. 3, where the Bucs’ Thiago Pernas and Juan Sebastian Zabala earned a 6-2 win to secure the doubles point.
In singles play, ETSU’s Lugo downed Furman’s Atlevi 6-1, 6-0 at No. 3 to put the Bucs ahead 2-0. Furman got on the board as Drew Singerman won 6-2, 6-2 over ETSU’s Este at No. 5, cutting Furman’s lead in half. ETSU quickly pushed the lead back to two as Pernas, a sophomore, defeated Emil Westling 6-1, 6-4, at the No. 4 position. The Paladins, however, stayed in the match and picked up a 6-3, 7-5 win at No. 6, courtesy of James Roelofse. With courts one and two still in play, ETSU’s Badra, ranked 63rd nationally, won a second-set tiebreaker to take the set 6-0, 7-6 (8-6) and clinch the 4-2 victory for his squad. Badra was the 2021 SoCon Men’s Tennis Player of the Year and Freshman of the Year.
The match between ETSU’s Rengifo and Furman’s Bhangdia at No. 2 went unfinished as the two were in the third set when the match was clinched.
Juan Lugo, a graduate from Maracay, Venezuela, was named the tournament’s Most Outstanding Player. Juan Sebastian Zabala was awarded the Pinnacle Award, given to a player with the highest cumulative GPA on the championship winning team.
The Bucs will now await the NCAA tournament bracket announcement, which will be announced in two weeks.
No. 1 ETSU 4, No. 3 Furman 2
Singles competition
1. #63 Dimitri Badra (ETSU) def. Ivan Mitric (FUR) 6-0, 7-6 (8-6)
2. Frazier Rengifo (ETSU) vs. Jake Bhangdia (FUR) 6-2, 3-6, 1-1, unfinished
3. Juan Lugo (ETSU) def. Henrik Atlevi (FUR) 6-1, 6-0
4. Thiago Pernas (ETSU) def. Emil Westling (FUR) 6-1, 6-3
5. Drew Singerman (FUR) def. Miguel Este (ETSU) 6-2, 6-0
6. James Roelofse (FUR) def. Milo Bargeron (ETSU) 6-3, 7-5
Doubles competition
1. #89 Henrik Atlevi/Jake Bhangdia (FUR) def. Juan Lugo/Frazier Rengifo (ETSU) 6-3
2. Dimitri Badra/Miguel Este (ETSU) def. Benjamin Cahill/Ivan Mitric (FUR) 6-3
3. Thiago Pernas/J. Sebastian Zabala (ETSU) def. Drew Singerman/Emil Westling (FUR) 6-2
Match Notes: Furman 10-12, 5-2 SoCon • ETSU 13-7, 7-0 SoCon
Order of finish: Doubles (1,2,3); Singles (3,5,4,6,1)
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