The McKendree University men's tennis team concluded its record setting 2021-22 season here Tuesday morning a s they fell 4-0 to 12th-ranked Indianapolis in the championship match of the NCAA Division II Midwest Regional 2 final held at Center Grove High School.
Tuesday's loss was just the third of the season of the 35th-ranked Bearcats as they close the year with a 21-3 overall record with two of the three losses coming against UIndy. The 21 wins are a new single season program record, while the three losses are tied for the fewest losses in a season in school history as the 2010-11 squad ended the season with a 20-3 overall record.
The Bearcats were making their first-ever Round of 32 appearance in the NCAA Division II Men's Tennis Tournament in program history as Tuesday's match was just the third-ever NCAA Regional for the Bearcats in school history.
UIndy, who now advances to 2022 NCAA Division II National Championships, which are scheduled for May 17-21 at Sanlando Park in Altamonte Springs, Fla., extracted some revenge on the Bearcats with Tuesday's win as the two teams faced off against each other 10 days ago at Dwight Davis Tennis Center in St. Louis, Mo., in the championship match of the Great Lakes Valley Conference Tournament. In that match, the Bearcats defeated the Greyhounds, 4-3, to claim the program's first-ever league title in men's tennis in school history.
"McKendree Men's Tennis congratulates UIndy head coach Malik Tabet and the Hounds for an outstanding performance in today's NCAA Regional Finals. Without question, the Hounds earned the right to compete for it all in Orlando," McKendree head coach René Vidal said. "For McKendree Tennis, we will continue to run our own race. It's one thing to pursue excellence and another to make it happen. Special thanks to co-Captains Leo Frederico, Bo Kamdem, and Ryan Fung for their extraordinary leadership and history-making abilities. We are also grateful to the entire McKendree Tennis family for their amazing love and support. Teamwork truly is the essence of life."
Much like that match in the GLVC Tournament, UIndy (20-4), opened Tuesday's region final match by capturing the doubles point to take a 1-0 lead in the match.
In doubles action, UIndy claimed the first win at the No. 2 spot as Edgar Destouret and Yoann Viel posted a 6-4 win over sophomore Subash Paramasivam (Chennai, Tamil India/Saraswathi Kendra) and senior Vishnu Prasad (Chennai, India/National Institute of Open Schooling).
UIndy's second win in doubles came at the No. 1 spot, but that win had some controversy at the end as it appeared that McKendree's No. 1 team of junior Leonardo Frederico (Tijucas-Santa Cantrina, Brazil/Unicesumar) and graduate student Boriss Kamdem (Ghent, Belgium/University of Tulsa) had tied their match 5-5 against Zac Faveri and Nikolaj Talimaa, but the official ruled that a ball that appeared to have hit a UIndy player was called out and that sealed the 'Hounds 6-4 win at the No. 1 spot to give them the doubles point.
The Bearcats No. 3 team of freshman David Leon Mantilla (Lima, Peru/Colegio Parroquial Santa Rosa de Lima) and sophomore Julappagari Anurag Reddy (Dubai, UAE/CBSE School Nationals) was leading 5-4 over UIndy's No. 3 team of Jason Gerwick and Pedro Franca when UIndy wrapped up the doubles point.
Following doubles, the teams turned their focus to singles and in singles, UIndy was dominant on the day as they won the first set in five of the six singles matches as the only first set in singles that was won by McKendree came by Reddy at the No. 4 spot over Faveri.
UIndy earned its second point of the match at the No. 3 spot as Viel won in straight sets over Paramasiviam, 6-2, 6-2. Viel's win gave the 'Hounds 2-0 lead in the match.
The lead grew to 3-0 following a 6-2, 6-1 win by Franca over Mantilla at the No. 6 singles spot.
UIndy would wrap up the match with a win at the No. 2 spot as 24th-ranked Talimaa posted back-to-back 6-1 wins over 54th-ranked Kamdem to earn the fourth and final point to win the match. With the setback, Kamdem ended his season with an 18-6 record in singles.
UIndy was leading in the second set of the matches at No. 4 and No. 5, but was trailing at the No. 1 spot as Frederico, who was the GLVC Player of the Year this season, was leading 5-1 in the second set over 72nd-ranked Destouet when Talimaa clinched the victory. Destouet won the first set Tuesday over Frederico, 6-1. In the GLVC Tournament final on May 1, Frederico defeated Destouet, 6-2, 6-0. Frederico closes the season with a 20-4 overall record in singles and he won 12 consecutive matches to conclude the season.
Despite Tuesday's NCAA Tournament second round loss, the Bearcats recorded numerous accomplishments this season and several of those accomplishments are listed below.
- Opened the season by winning seven consecutive matches, which is the best start to a season in the school's Division II era (2013-present)
- Won a single season school record 21 matches, which bettered the old school record of 20 wins that was set in both 2009-10 and 2010-11.
- Won a school record five GLVC matches as they went 5-1 in GLVC play with the lone loss being a 5-2 setback at home to UIndy.
- Was ranked as high as No. 35 in the ITA Division II team rankings, which is believe to be the highest for the program since moving to the NCAA Division II level in 2013.
- Posted a 7-2 record against nationally ranked foes.
- Posted the program's first-ever win over NCAA Division III powerhouse Washington University in St. Louis. Prior to this year's 5-4 win over the Bears, WashU had been 11-0 all-time against the Bearcats in men's tennis history.
- Leonardo Frederico made his history as he became the first-ever Bearcat men's tennis player to earn GLVC Player of the Year honors. Frederico went undefeated in singles matches in GLVC play to earn the Player of the Year honor.
- Captured its first-ever GLVC Tournament championship with a 4-3 win over Indianapolis in the title match. In fact, that was the first-ever championship in men's tennis in the school's history.
- McKendree head coach René Vidal was named the GLVC Men's Tennis Coach of the Year following his team's win in the GLVC Tournament championship match.
- Made just its second-ever appearance in the NCAA Tournament in the program's history as they earned an at-large spot in the tournament in 2014.
- Won the school's first-ever NCAA Tournament match with a 4-0 win on Monday over Tiffin as the Bearcats have played just three all-time matches in the NCAA Tournament.
- Advanced to the Round of 32 of the NCAA Men's Tennis Tournament for the first time in school history.
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