WEEKLY SPOTLIGHT: North Carolina Wesleyan men's tennis bursts onto national scene

Rocky Mount, NC - Russia, England, Finland, Cameroon, Armenia, Brazil, Sweden, and the U.S... Eight countries boasting 14 young men that have taken the North Carolina Wesleyan men's tennis program from mere obscurity to a #26 national ranking and 7-0 start to the season. When breaking down the specifics of Wesleyan's seven team wins, you'll notice that three have been shutouts, two have been over Division II opponents, and one has been over a nationally-ranked team. The Battling Bishops, whose two closest victories were 5-4 wins over NYU and #22 Salisbury, are without a doubt a "TEAM TO WATCH" on the national scene!

Head coach Dominic Modise began implementing his formula for success last season when he brought in Antti Saari of Lahti, Finland, who went on to earn USA South Rookie of the Year accolades in the spring of 2008. Saari's success and Modise's knack for recruiting internationally -- the South Africa native is fluent in four languages -- led the second-year coach to seek out more international talent to mesh with his stateside players. The result is an undefeated record thusfar in 2009, the program's first national ranking, a #6 regional ranking, and two individual regional rankings.

Those individual rankings belong to Saari, who is currently the #15 singles player in the region, and freshman Alexey Rumyantsev (Moscow, Russia), who teams with Saari to produce the #8 doubles tandem in the region. Saari (4-0)
and Rumyansev (4-0) are, in fact, two of the Bishops' four players that are currently undefeated in dual singles play.

They are joined by senior Dustin Hale (2-0; Tarboro, NC)
and freshman Fred Lemongo (5-0; Yaounde, Cameroon), while two other Bishops boast 5-1 singles marks in the form of freshmen Anton Filonov (Moscow, Russia) and Davit Minasyan (Yerevan, Armenia). Freshman Artem Alexandrov (Moscow, Russia) and sophomore Kalpesh Patel (Atlanta, GA) have seen limited action this spring but have a combined five singles wins under their belt this season.

Wesleyan has enjoyed much of the same success in dual doubles play with Filonov teaming with Ilpo Kautonen (Lahti, Finland) to produce a team-best 6-0 record. Brandon Coleman (Spotsylvania, VA) and Dominic Forsdike (Hythe, England), along with Evgeniy Bukatin (Perm, Russia) and Ludvig Wahlund (Helsingborg, Sweden), are also undefeated in doubles action. Additionally, Minasyan and Marcelo Prata (Brasilia, Brazil) have teamed to earn five victories, which ranks second on the team.

All of these individual accolades have led to the best start in program history... a feat that many Bishop fans saw coming after last season's 9-8 record, the program's first winning season since 1976.

NCWC opened league play this weekend with a 9-0 win over Shenandoah and currently remains the only undefeated team in the league. The Bishops will travel to USA South foe Averett University on Saturday, and then, on March 31st, Wesleyan will host Christopher Newport University in a highly-anticipated match-up with the Captains. CNU was picked to win the regular season conference championship in the preseason coaches poll with Wesleyan receiving two first place votes.

So if you haven't been out to watch our Battling Bishops perform, please take time to drop by the NC Wesleyan Tennis Complex to catch some top-notch Division III action. You will not be disappointed!

2008-09 SPOTLIGHT ARCHIVES
2007-08 SPOTLIGHT ARCHIVES
2006-07 SPOTLIGHT ARCHIVES
 

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