May 11, 2005

Senior Dante Cipulli capped off his career on Tuesday night by receiving yet another award as the ITA named him the NCAA Division II Senior Player of the Year.

[Sweet 16 Results]
BOLIVAR, MO. ... Finishing the year in Florida, Southwest Baptist fell to #9 North Florida, 5-1, in the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Division II National Tournament. The men’s tennis team finishes the 2005 season at 17-12.

On Tuesday night, ITA handed out their 2005 awards and SBU’s Dante Cipulli was a major award winner. He was given the NCAA Division II Senior Player of the Year as the best tennis player in all of Division II. He has held the #1 singles ranking all year and is ranked #10 in the nation for doubles with Johan Nortje. He has won 110 career matches with 49 coming this year. He was the ITA NCAA Division II Singles National Champion and the Small College Super Bowl Champion this past fall. The past two years, he has been named the MIAA MVP and voted all-MIAA First-Team for singles and doubles.

At the Sweet 16, SBU only won one match in doubles as Cipulli and Nortje held off German Escallon and Leonardo Gomes, 8-6. Daniel Prerad and Hunter Emmott almost to the #2 match but could not get any closer than 8-5 as they fell to Elad Gabay and Eduardo Pereira. Jose Maria Terrera and Damien De Polignac took an 8-3 win over Brian Bajema and Peter Joos in the #3 match.

Heading into singles play, UNF only needed three points for the win and they did just that. Glen Marshall won the #6 singles match vs. Bajema, 6-2, 6-3, for the fourth point and then Escallon won the #3 singles match against Joos, 6-3, 6-0, for the fourth point. #27 Terrera finished the match for the fifth point over Prerad in the #2 singles match, 6-2, 6-1.

Both Cipulli and Emmott were still playing their matches and had leads when the match was finished.

This marks the third year in a row that SBU has played in Florida for a National Championship as they finished in the Elite Eight the past two seasons.

NCAA Division II National Tournament
Altamonte Spring, FL
Sweet 16

Doubles Play
#1 Dante Cipulli/Johan Nortje (SBU) def. German Escallon/Leonardo Gomes (UNF), 8-6
#2 Elad Gabay/Eduardo Pereira (UNF) def. Daniel Prerad/Hunter Emmott (SBU), 8-5
#3 Jose Maria Terrera/Damien De Polignac (UNF) def. Peter Joos/Brian Bajema (SBU), 8-3

Singles Play
#1 Cipulli (SBU) vs. Pereira (UNF), 6-3, 0-6, unfinished
#2 Terrera (UNF) def. Prerad (SBU), 6-2, 6-1
#3 Escallon (UNF) def. Joos (SBU), 6-3, 6-0
#4 Emmott (SBU) vs. Gomes (UNF), 7-6, unfinished
#5 Gabay (UNF) vs. Nortje (SBU), 6-4, 4-0, unfinished
#6 Glen Marshall (UNF) def. Bajema (SBU), 6-2, 6-3