In a titanic championship match lasting exactly five hours, the No. 1-ranked and defending DII national champion Armstrong Atlantic State men’s tennis team erased a 2-1 deficit in doubles to win, 5-4, over No. 2-ranked Barry and capture its second consecutive NCAA Division II Men’s Tennis Championship on Saturday in Altamonte Springs.

The match came down to No. 5 singles, where AASU (30-1) sophomore Rafael Array and Barry’s Roman Werschel played a three-set match to determine the match. Array won the first set, 6-4, but Werschel rallied to win the second set, 7-5, and set up one set for the title. Array broke Werschel’s serve at 5-3, winAAning the pivotal point at 14-50 and giving the Pirates their second NCAA Division II Men’s Tennis title. Barry finishes runner-up for the fourth time in school history and ends its season at 27-3.

It was the first time since 2003 and the eighth time overall that the NCAA DII Men’s Tennis championship has been decided by a 5-4 score. The Pirates are the first back-to-back champions since West Florida in 2004-05.

In the regular season, the two teams met with AASU also winning that time out, 5-4, giving the Sanlando Park crowd an indication of how this year’s championship match might shake out.

FULL STORY

–Courtesy AASU