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Men's Tennis Joe Browning

No. 74 Men's Tennis Opens Spring Season Vs. ASU

WILMINGTON, North Carolina – UNCW's nationally-ranked men's tennis team christens the spring season early Saturday with the first of 10 home matches as state rival Appalachian State visits the Port City.

The Seahawks, ranked No. 74 in the Intercollegiate Tennis Association's preseason poll, take on the Mountaineers at Noon.

"We're very excited about starting the season and look forward to playing against a very good opponent in Appalachian State," said ninth-year UNCW Head Coach Mait DuBois, four-time Colonial Athletic Association Coach-of-the-Year. "They return their entire lineup from last year and always play very good doubles. We are fired up and ready to get things under way, and we expect Appalachian State to be the same. I'm sure it will be an excellent college tennis match."

UNCW's young team played well during the fall behind senior leaders and All-CAA First-Team selections Santtu Leskinen and Christiaan Van der Burgh. The Seahawks tackle a 22-match schedule before the Colonial Athletic Association Championships are staged on April 21-24 in Burlington, N.C.

Overall, the squad features two seniors, six sophomores and two freshmen. Newcomers Agustin Savarino (Mar Del Plata, Argentina) and Aviv Ben Shabat (Tel Aviv, Israel) recently joined the team over the holiday break and are eligible to compete this spring.

In the last match of the fall season in early November, the Seahawks swept 25-of-30 matches in the Seahawk Fall Invitational at the UNCW Courts. The team went 2-1 in doubles and a perfect 6-0 in singles in the finale of the three-day event, which also featured players from N.C. State, Tulane, Richmond and USC Upstate.
DuBois is in his ninth year with the Seahawks and the team stands132-51 in dual matches since he took over the program in 2007-08, including 27-8 in CAA matches.

Appalachian, meanwhile, fashioned a 10-12 record last spring and has one of the region's top doubles tandems in Scott Webster and Jan-Willem Kleynhans. The pair won the doubles crown at the Winthrop Invitational in the fall and is ranked 10th in the ITA Carolina Regional rankings.

Webster and Kleynhans combined for 26 wins in singles competition and eight victories in doubles last year. Webster led the team with an18-4 record and his partner posted an 8-12 mark. Kleynhans led the team with six wins at the No. 5 position.

The Mountaineers, coached by Bob Lake, are beginning their second season in the Sun Belt Conference. Lake led ASU to four Southern Conference semifinal appearances before the conference switch and owns13 double-digit win seasons with an overall record of 175-165-1 in 14 years. Lake coached 23 All-Conference selections in the SoCon and Webster was the 2015 SBC Freshman-of-the-Year.

Following Saturday's matchup with the Mountaineers, the Seahawks travel to Jacksonville, Fla., next weekend to face North Florida, Miami and Alabama at the UNF Tennis Complex.

The Seahawks, who went 11-8 in dual matches last season, have captured four CAA championships (2009, 2011, 2013 and 2014) and advanced to the NCAA Regionals five times (2009, 2011, 2012, 2013 and 2014) in the last seven years.


 
 
 
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Players Mentioned

Santtu Leskinen

Santtu Leskinen

PLAYER
6' 1"
Senior
Christiaan Van der Burgh

Christiaan Van der Burgh

PLAYER
6' 3"
Senior
Agustin Savarino

Agustin Savarino

5' 10"
Freshman
Aviv Ben Shabat

Aviv Ben Shabat

5' 10"
Freshman

Players Mentioned

Santtu Leskinen

Santtu Leskinen

6' 1"
Senior
PLAYER
Christiaan Van der Burgh

Christiaan Van der Burgh

6' 3"
Senior
PLAYER
Agustin Savarino

Agustin Savarino

5' 10"
Freshman
Aviv Ben Shabat

Aviv Ben Shabat

5' 10"
Freshman