Back In Savannah, Pirates Bring Trophies Home !

The Pirates returned to Savannah at 5:50 p.m. on Sunday after a long cross country flight that started with a very early 4:30 a.m. wakeup call for coaches, administrators and staff. But it was well worth it to bring yet more hardware back to Armstrong - national championship trophy for the women and national finalist trophy for the men !

First, a little quick look back at yesterday's historic win for the women's tennis team - the recap from NCAA.com's Denise Maloof as well as the official match highlights from NCAA.com video .

We wanted to give you the video of the clinching point, but we also talked to Marlen Hacke and head coach Simon Earnshaw after the matches, so we've got that video at the end of this blog post.

One more bit of writing came from the NCAA.com's Denise Maloof late Friday as she put into perspective the coaching career of coach Earnshaw and the Pirate tennis programs in another good read. 

The blog also wants to congratulate the No. 4 Armstrong softball team for winning twice on Sunday - mostly while the Pirate tennis teams were mid-flight - to capture the NCAA Southeast Softball Regional #1 and advance to the Super Regionals, which will be hosted on May 17-18. As we wrote about earlier, often the tennis teams' results are the last for Armstrong athletics for the year, but the Pirates have done so well this season that play will go for another week at least with softball and women's golfer Kristen Sammarco, and possibly even longer if Armstrong baseball receives an at-large berth into the NCAA Championships, which will be announced tonight at 10 p.m.

So watch the videos and celebrate what has been another successful trip to the NCAA Championships with Armstrong tennis. Go Pirates !

NATIONAL CHAMPIONS ! 8 Is Great For Armstrong Women's Tennis

It wasn't the start, but the finish for Armstrong women's tennis as the Pirates picked up their eighth NCAA Division II National Championship with a 5-2 win over BYU Hawaii. Leading 2-1 after doubles, the Pirates watched the Seasiders take the first set in five of six singles matches.

Undaunted, Armstrong battled back to take five of six second sets  - BYU Hawaii took No. 1 singles, but Barbora Krtickova won her No. 3 doubles match in straight sets.

With the score 3-2, Natasa Vukovic battled from losing her first set 6-0 to claim a three-set win at No. 6 singles. That left Marlen Hacke at No. 4 singles with the huge opportunity to close out the national title - which she did, winning her third set 6-1 and clinching the championship with the point above.

Even though the scoreline and the results were much the same from last year's win over the Seasiders, the two matches could not have been more different. And as coach Simon Earnshaw says in our game recap, it's fitting that if Armstrong was to become the program with the most national titles in women's tennis, then they would have to beat BYU Hawaii in the title match to do it.

The Pirates are national champions and no other women's tennis program in NCAA Division II is more successful than Armstrong Atlantic State University. As satisfying as that is to type, it's more satisfying to all - players, coaches, fans - who have been involved with the Pirate tennis program over the years. Success is built one brick at a time and there are many, many bricks that make up what has become a truly dominant collegiate athletic program.

So, if you are in the neighborhood, drop by the Savannah/Hilton Head International Airport on Sunday around 5:15 p.m. to help welcome back the National Champions to Savannah !

No. 2 Pirates Lead No. 3 BYU Hawaii, 2-1, After Doubles

Buoyed by doubles wins by Marlen Hacke and Olga Kalodzitsa at No. 2 doubles and Clara Perez and Natasa Vukovic at No. 3 doubles, the Armstrong women's tennis team is taking a 2-1 lead heading into singles play in the NCAA DII Women's Tennis National Championship match on Saturday afternoon.

In this rematch of the 2012 NCAA DII title match, the doubles results were the exact same as last year. Remember, in last year's match, it was wins at the bottom that propelled the Pirates to their seventh NCAA DII national title - so all eyes are on Marlen, Olga and Natasa to deliver in singles play as they did in doubles play to bring home what would be an NCAA Division II record eighth women's tennis title ! Go Pirates !

Adversity Reveals True Character; Pirates Never Say Die

In almost any other situation, facing the No. 1 team in the nation and a 3-0 deficit after doubles on the biggest stage in NCAA DII tennis, you would think that a match might be considered all but over.

But the defending national champion No. 2-ranked Pirates fought back. And back. And back.

Taking the first set in five of the first six singles matches, Armstrong quickly climbed back into the match with straight-set wins by Dan Regan, Pablo Gor, Matus Mydla and Georgi Rumenov. With the score at 4-4, Pedro Scocuglia and Barry's Leo Vivas battled deep into the third set, but as Barry prevailed with the third-set win and the 5-4 victory, the true character of the defending national champions was on display for all to see. 

At the end of what has been an amazing run for Armstrong over the last six seasons - three national championships and wins in 174 of 180 matches - it truly has been outstanding amount of success for the Pirates. And although Armstrong loses its top three singles players in seniors Dan Regan, Georgi Rumenov and Matus Mydla, the returners will be fueled with the fire to return Armstrong tennis back to the top of the DII heap.

Work To Do

No two ways about it, the No. 2-ranked Pirates have their backs against the wall. Barry won all three doubles matches in the NCAA DII National Championship match this morning - two in tiebreakers and one tiebreaker where the Pirates had four match points - to take a 3-0 lead as we head into singles play.

Once in this national championships has a team come from 3-0 down to win - that was UC San Diego in a 5-3 Round of 16 win over Southern Indiana. 

Only once in head coach Simon Earnshaw's career have the Pirates come back from a 3-0 deficit to win - way back on February 26, 2000, when Armstrong trailed Francis Marion in a similar situation with losing two doubles matches in tiebreakers, but came back to sweep the singles matches to win 6-3 over the Patriots.

Also, the Armstrong softball team is facing elimination today after falling, 2-0, to Columbus State in this morning's winner's bracket game. The Pirates play at 4 p.m. to stay alive in the regional.

Wherever you are today, help the Pirates dig deep and battle back. It may be daunting, but it's not impossible. Nothing's impossible when you're a Pirate !

No. 2 Pirates Back In The Title Match ! Defeat No. 4 Hawaii Pacific, 5-2

First of all, the blog has to apologize - due to operator error, the video of Dan Regan's match point of Armstrong's 5-2 win over West Florida is unviewable. However, we did catch a rare feat in the women's match as Natasa Vukovic's match point in the Pirates' 5-2 win over Hawaii Pacific was on the video. In a second-set tiebreak, Vukovic's opponent, Lea Kruse-Utermann, called a ball out on 6-4 in the tiebreaker, but the chair umpire overruled the call, giving Vukovic and the Pirates the win.

The national semifinals are the first time in the tournament in which chair umpires are on each singles match - once you reach the Round of 16, you have chair umpires on each doubles matches but they still use roving officials until you get down to four teams. Today we had two matches ended on overrules by the officials - Georgi Rumenov's singles win over West Florida's Bruno Savi ended similarly - but it is quite rare to see that happen for match point to end a team match. Again, had the match been played in the quarters or the Round of 16.. the women's match might still be going on now!

Nevertheless, the Pirates are back in the national championship match for a 13th time in school history, where No. 3 BYU Hawaii awaits in a rematch of last year's championship match. For you numerology fans, the number 7 has a big significance in tomorrow's match. Armstrong has won 7 NCAA Division II national championships in women's tennis. So has BYU Hawaii, which is tied for tops in NCAA DII history. The meeting on Saturday will be the seventh time that the two teams have met for the title as each school has won three previous meetings.

Today's match started later because of the four-plus hour men's match preceding it. Doubles was less than an hour - big wins by Aleksandra Filipovski and Barbora Krtickova at No. 1 doubles and Marlen Hacke and Olga Kalodzitsa at No. 2 doubles. Singles wins went in straight sets to Filipovski and Hacke and Vukovic's match winner finished in that second set tiebreak. BYU Hawaii won over Abilene Christian, 5-2, in a match that essentially lasted the same amount of time as the Pirates' match, they just finished quicker because the Barry men's match was quicker. 

Live video of both national championship matches will again be on NCAA.com, and live stats will continue. Be forewarned - if the live stats aren't updating deep into the match, it might be because the blog is trying to get video of match point. We don't want a duplicate of what happened today !

No. 2 Pirates outlast No. 3 West Florida, head into NCAA Championship match

When Dan Regan's final point in his marathon No. 3 singles match finished, the No. 2-ranked Armstrong men's tennis team put the cap on a four-plus hour gruelling ordeal to earn the program's fourth berth into the NCAA DII Men's Tennis National Championship match. After the Pirates had a slim 2-1 lead after doubles, the two teams each took three first sets in singles play.

Armstrong won two matches in straight sets - from top-ranked Georgi Rumenov and Pablo Gor - but West Florida won in straight sets at No. 5, leaving three other singles matches out on the court and all in third sets.

We'll have video of the clinching point from Regan later, but now we look ahead briefly to the championship match tomorrow at 9 a.m. as Armstrong faces No. 1-ranked Barry - 5-0 winners over Concordia (NY) - for the title. In 2009, the two teams met in Sanlando Park and it was a match for the ages with Rafael Array winning a third-setter in a match that lasted exactly five hours.

Earlier this season, the two teams met in Miami Shores, Fla., and Barry won that meeting 5-4. So all indications are that tomorrow's match will be about as even as you can get, especially between No. 1 and No. 2.

Also want to send along congratulations to the Armstrong softball team, who knocked off Wingate, 2-1, in the NCAA Southeast Regional in Savannah. They will take on Columbus State at 11 a.m. on Saturday - 8 am here in Arizona ! - in a winner's bracket matchup.

Armstrong! Armstrong !

Buoyed by the "Armstrong ! Armstrong !" cheer of the father of Pirate senior Matus Mydla, Armstrong has taken a 2-1 lead in doubles over West Florida in the NCAA DII Men's Tennis semifinals. Mydla and teammate Jaan Kononov led 7-4 at No. 3 doubles, saw West Florida claim a service break to fight back to 7-6, but Kononov held serve to claim the 8-6 win.

We head into singles play with the No. 2 Pirates holding that slim one point lead. In the other semifinal, top-ranked Barry won three close doubles matches over No. 6 Concordia (NY) to lead 3-0 heading into singles play.

By the way, the NCAA.com has posted the story from Denise Maloof of the Pirates' win over Barry yesterday and the rivalry that has existed between the Bucs and the Pirates. If the doubles scores hold into singles, we will see a renewing of that rivalry on the men's side - and this time it'll be for a national championship !

The 2s Have It - No. 2 Women's Tennis Upends No. 1 Barry, Advances To NCAA Semfinals !

When No. 1 and No. 2 match up in any round of any national tournament, you know you are in for something special. So when two teams who played to a nailbitingly-close 5-4 decision in the regular season took the courts in the NCAA Quarterfinals this afternoon, it was destined to be the match of the tournament. 

And it was.

Marlen Hacke outlasted Barry's Karina Goia, 6-2, 4-6, 7-5, at No. 4 singles to clinch a 5-3 win for the No. 2 Pirates over the top-ranked and previously unbeaten Barry Bucs and earn a berth into a 10th straight semifinals for Armstrong women's tennis. Included in that run are five national titles, two runner up finishes and two more third-place finishes. 

The match began with the Pirates taking two of three doubles matches from the Bucs - something they were not able to do in the regular season meeting between the two teams.

With a 2-1 lead heading into singles play, the Pirates and the Bucs each took three first sets in the singles matches. Aleks came up with a quick win over Elisabeth Abanda at No. 1 singles, and when Clara Perez downed Emma Onila in straight sets, the Pirates held a 4-2 lead with three matches left on the court.

Barry won at No. 6 singles, setting up doubles teammates Marlen Hacke and Olga Kalodzitsa with the pressure to close out the win. Olga lost the first set but battled back to win the second set, splitting sets. She would take a 3-0 lead in the third set as well, so you had to feel good about her chances at closing out that match.

Instead, Marlen saw a 5-1 third-set lead whittled away to 5-5, only to come back with a solid service game hold, then a break of Karina Goia's serve to clinch the match with a 7-5 win in the third set. 

So the four teams that are left in the NCAA DII Women's Semifinals are the four teams ranked No. 2 through No. 5 - the Pirates will face No. 4 Hawaii Pacific on Friday, while No. 3 BYU Hawaii will face No. 5 Abilene Christian in the other semifinal match.

Don't read too much into the Pirates' earlier-season win over Hawaii Pacific either. Yes, it was 7-2, but it was a hotly contested match with two three-set singles matches and two more that went to 10-point tiebreakers once the match was clinched. Plus, the Seasiders have experience in having faced the Pirates three times over the last two seasons, not to mention that their quarterfinal win over Southwest Baptist ended about an hour and 15 minutes before the Pirates finished with Barry.

So both Armstrong teams are in the semifinals for the fourth time in program history. The other three times being 2008, 2009 and 2012. We'll let you connect the dots.

Armstrong's matches tomorrow will be on the NCAA.com's video coverage again, and keep tuned to NCAA.com later for coverage of the Pirates' win from Denise Maloof, who is on site writing about the NCAA DII Tennis Championships and interviewed coach Simon Earnshaw after the big win today !

No. 2 Pirate Men's Tennis Plows Into Semifinals

The No. 2-ranked Armstrong men's tennis team got a spark from the No. 2 doubles team of Sven Lalic and Pedro Scocuglia to close out No. 17 Midwestern State, 5-0, and earn a berth into the semifinals.

With two doubles matches secured, Lalic and Scocuglia trailed a break, 6-4, then fought off a match point at 6-7 to eventually force a tiebreaker and prevail, 9-8 (4) to take a commanding 3-0 lead after doubles. After straight-set wins by Pablo Gor and Georgi Rumenov finished off Midwestern State, the Pirates can now look ahead to a semifinal showdown with No. 3 West Florida.

The Pirates and the Argonauts met last season in the NCAA National Championship match as Armstrong won, 5-0, for the program's third national championship. The two teams were scheduled to meet in a neutral-site regular-season matchup this year, but that match got rained out. West Florida's road to the semis include a 5-0 win over Bluefield State and a 5-1 win over UC San Diego.

The other half of the bracket pits No. 1 Barry against No. 6 Concordia (NY), meaning that the four semifinal participants are four of the top five-ranked teams that came to Arizona for the Round of 16.

Check out junior Sven Lalic's comments on the match above, and get ready to root on the Armstrong women as they take on No.1 Barry in the quarterfinals on NCAA.com !

No. 2 Women's Tennis blanks Northwood, sets up showdown with No. 1 Barry

The preliminaries are out of the way as Armstrong blanked Northwood, 5-0, on Wednesday in first-round action and No. 1 Barry did the same to Northeastern State, 5-0, setting up a 1 vs. 2 matchup in the quarterfinals of the DII Women's Tennis National Championships. Check out junior Barbora Krtickova's comments about the match above from ace interviewer and head coach Simon Earnshaw!

There were few upsets in the first day of action in the Round of 16 on the men's or women's side - the only unusual match was UC San Diego rallying from a 3-0 deficit in men's tennis to upend Southern Indiana, 5-3. Congratulations to fellow Peach Belt school Lander for knocking off Cameron and advancing to the quarterfinals in the men's draw. The anticipated Abilene Christian/Columbus State women's match went all the way of the Wildcats as ACU swept the doubles en route to a 5-0 win, eliminating the Cougars.

Both of the Pirates' matches tomorrow - the showdown with Barry and the men's match against Midwestern State - will again be on NCAA.com's live video. There has also been a start time change - the men's match will begin at 9 a.m. local time and the women's match will begin at 1:00 p.m.

No. 2 Pirates Blank New York Tech, 5-0, In Round of 16 Action

The Armstrong men's tennis squad blanked New York Tech, 5-0, to advance to the quarterfinals of the NCAA Round of 16 on Wednesday morning. The Pirates swept all three doubles matches, then got 6-0, 6-0 wins in singles from Matus Mydla and Pedro Scocuglia.

The Pirates will now take on Midwestern State at 9:00 a.m. in the quarterfinals on Thursday. Listen to Dan Regan talk about the Pirates' win over New York Tech and also the prospects of playing another first-time opponent in Midwestern State tomorrow !

Georgi Rumenov Named ITA DII Men's Tennis National Senior of the Year

At the NCAA's reception on Tuesday night, the ITA announced its national award winners who were in attendance and senior Georgi Rumenov was named the ITA DII Men's Tennis National Senior of the Year. Although Georgi has only been playing for the Pirates for two seasons, he has been ranked No. 1 in the nation in both singles and doubles in every ranking that he has been eligible for. It's truly a great accomplishment for what has been an outstanding career for the Barcelona, Spain, native. 

The ITA Regional award winners were announced last week and the Pirates had a couple of other honorees. Obviously, Georgi was the Southeast Region's men's tennis Senior of the Year, but fellow senior Dan Regan was the Southeast Region's Arthur Ashe Sportsmanship and Leadership awards winner. On the women's side, Marlen Hacke was the ITA Southeast Region's "Player to Watch" and new assistant coach Iuliia Sherrod was the ITA Southeast Region's Assistant Coach of the Year.

Congratulations to all of the Pirates' award winners, and tomorrow it happens for real as action on the court begins in Surprise, Arizona !

Practice in the Desert

The Armstrong tennis teams had their final practice today before the beginning of the NCAA Round of 16 in Surprise, Ariz. 

Those of you remember last year with our DII Spring Sports Festival Blog that women's golf featured prominently in the Pirates' goings-on in Louisville. Well, history repeated itself somewhat today when junior Kristen Sammarco birdied the second playoff hole to earn a bid into the 2013 NCAA Division II Women's Golf Championships, following in the footsteps of Jenna Birch from last season. What this means is, unlike in the past when the tennis season was complete, 

Armstrong athletics will still be in action after Saturday with Sammarco traveling to Daytona Beach and LPGA International for nationals. Two straight individual qualifiers in women's golf and the team advanced to the regionals for the first time... it might be time to contemplate a women's golf blog in the future!

Also, a reminder that the NCAA will be providing live video of matches each day. Armstrong's first-round matches against New York Tech and Northwood (Mich.) will be webstreamed on Wednesday. So catch a peek at the Pirates as they open up their title defense at the NCAA video link to the right!

The NCAA.com also did men's and women's tennis previews for this week's action. Obviously a lot of the pre-championship buildup centers on the Pirates and Barry, but there are other dangerous teams out there, two of which could be the other Peach Belt squads out in Arizona this week - the Columbus State women and the Lander men. The CSU women have a brutal first-round matchup in Abilene Christian - that's #5 vs. #6 in the nation in the first round.

The blog will be back later tonight with pics from the annual ITA Awards Banquet, which is being combined with a welcome banquet from the NCAA held at the Surprise Racquet & Tennis Complex.

Travel time, perfect time to look ahead to 2013-14

With both of the Pirate tennis teams in the air heading to Arizona today, it's a perfect time to look ahead to the future of Armstrong tennis. Head coach Simon Earnshaw and assistant coach Iuliia Sherrod announced the signing of Dora Andrejszki for 2013-14.

Andrejszki is another in a long line of successful players from Hungary to play for the Pirates, beginning with Armstrong Athletic Hall of Famer Zsofia Golopencza, through Gabriella Kovacs and current Pirate Aleksandra Filipovski.

Read the signing release here. The Pirates welcome Dora to the Armstrong tennis family and look forward to seeing her play in the Fall !

The men's tennis team is due in Phoenix a couple of hours from now. The women's tennis team will arrive closer to 8 p.m. after a delay. Also, remember - Arizona is mountain time, but does not observe daylight savings, so Surprise, Ariz., is three hours behind the East Coast. Keep up with what time it is wherever you are in Surprise at this link!

Graduation Day !

Saturday was Graduation Day at Armstrong and three Pirates - current team members Dan Regan and Jessica Gardefjord, as well as former Pirate Tina Ronel all received their degrees at the morning ceremony at the Savannah Civic Center. The Armstrong men's and women's tennis teams all turned out to support their teammates on a great accomplishment. Now, Monday morning beckons with the flights to Arizona beginning in the morning. 

Welcome to the 2013 Armstrong Tennis Blog !

Welcome to the 2013 Armstrong Tennis blog, chronicling the Pirates' journey to Surprise, Ariz., for the 2013 NCAA Division II Men's and Women's Tennis National Championships !

This is the sixth straight year that we have been fortunate to bring you live coverage of the Armstrong tennis teams as they attempt to win the national championship. Four out of those six years the task has been accomplished and three of those six, both the men's and women's teams won it in the same year - a feat unprecedented in NCAA Division II history. It has been an incredible ride and the Armstrong athletic department, the campus community and the Savannah area have been fortunate to see such a great program excel year after year.

The teams fly out to Arizona on Monday. The blog will journey on Tuesday and give you updates as soon as possible - the blog is also pulling double duty with staffing the championships so the updates might not be as in-depth or photo heavy as we have had in the past, but it will not be from the lack of effort! In fact we may enlist the help of some others to join us with their thoughts during the trip to Arizona. So bookmark us, tell your friends and we will begin with head coach Simon Earnshaw's thoughts as he filmed his Coaches' Corner on Friday morning!