Ruiz takes home Jones' first-ever national title, team finishes 12th
Photo Credit: Jones College Sports Information
FLORENCE, S.C. (JCBobcats.com) – History was made Friday morning in the NJCAA Division I Men's Tennis National Tournament.
Jones College's Matias Ruiz captured the No. 1 singles title in dramatic fashion with a 6-3, 2-6, 6-4 victory over Seward College's (Kansas) Samuel Antwi in two hours and 18 minutes.
It is the first national champion in Division I tennis for any Jones or MACCC player.
Ruiz, the No. 3 seed, opened the tournament with a 6-1, 6-1 victory over Mississippi Gulf Coast's Vicente Faria in the round of 16. He then defeated Eastern Florida's Alexandr Achour in the quarterfinals, 1-6, 6-4, 6-1.
In the semifinals he whipped No. 2 seed Alex Despoja of Tyler Junior College (Texas), 6-3, 6-1.
Ruiz, a sophomore from Buenos Aries, Argentina, then won the championship with the victory over Antwi, who was the No. 8 seed, in a match that lasted two hours, 18 minutes.
Ruiz, the MACCC Player of the Year, has already signed with Mississippi College.
The Bobcats finished 12th with 18.5 points in the tournament, which was held here at the Dr. Eddie Floyd Tennis Center. Tyler won the event with 42 points with Barton (Kansas) finishing second with 33 points. Collin (Texas) was third with 32.5 points and Pratt (Kansas) was fourth with 32 points.
In No. 1 doubles, Ruiz and Tom Garrett, the No. 6 seeds, won the consolation round title. They lost to Seward's Antwi and Abubakari Yakuba-Lee in the round of 32, 5-7, 4-6. They then beat Mesa College's (Arizona) Enrique Urquidi and Luke Virgil, 8-0, in the consolation quarterfinals. They then won over MGCCC's Faria and Moritz Stroebel by walkover in the semifinals and Meridian's Daniel Espin and Simon Ojeda by walkover in the finals.
Luke Westmoreland lost his opening round match to Coastal Alabama-South's Ryan Roberson 2-6, 2-6 in No. 6 singles. But he bounced back to make to the championship match of the consolation round.
Westmoreland beat Exauce Kaserka of Paradise Valley (Arizona), 8-2, and then knocked off Jax Leggett of Copiah-Lincoln, 8-0, in the consolation round semifinals, 8-0. He lost to Seward's Ognjen Gagic, 1-8, in the finals.
Tom Garrett beat Coastal Alabama-South's Julien Cordeau in the round of 32 in No. 2 singles, 4-6, 7-5, 6-0 and lost to No. 8 seed Aki Harada of South Carolina-Sumter in the round of 16, 2-6, 2-6.
In No. 3 singles, Diego Castellanos blanked College of Lake County's (Illinois) Seth Lampkin, 6-0, 6-0 in the round of 32 and lost to top-seed Daniel Borisov of Tyler in the round of 16, 0-6, 1-6.
In No. 4 singles, Alex Holder defeated Weatherford College's (Texas) Christopher Schlossmann in the round of 32, 6-4, 6-2 and lost to No. 8 seed Kenta Kawada of Pratt in the round of 16, 1-6, 0-6.
Ridge Jones defeated Hayden George-Duncan of Southwestern Illinois in the round of 32, 6-3, 6-1 and lost to No. 5 seed David Hoyos of Cowley College (Kansas) in the round of 16, 0-6, 2-6.
In No. 2 doubles, Castellanos and Holder fell to Seward's Pavle Markus and David Roseler Caballero in the round of 32, 6-3, 3-6, 3-6. They then beat Mesa's Taylor Miyatani and Nicolas Romero in the consolation round quarterfinals, 8-0. They lost 4-8 to the No. 4 seed Victor Alves and Shane Tapera of Barton in the semifinals.
In No. 3 doubles, Ridge Jones and Reese Touchet lost to Coastal Alabama-South's David Gimenez and Alvaro Velasco, 6-4, 2-6, 3-6. They then lost 3-8 to Pablo Garcia and Thomas Kurz of Eastern Florida in the round of 16 consolation draw.
Other MACCC schools that participated were MGCCC with 22 points, Northwest with 13, Co-Lin with 8, Meridian with 7 and Itawamba with 6.5.
About the MACCC
The Mississippi Association of Community Colleges Conference (MACCC) is one of the premier community college conferences in the country and ranks among the elite in the nation in terms of alumni on professional sports teams.
Current championship competition offered by the league includes competition for men in baseball, basketball, football, golf, soccer and tennis.
Women's competition is offered in the sports of basketball, soccer, softball, tennis and volleyball.
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