The Omnibus

Issue date: 4/20/07 Section: Sports

Media Credit: Robert Barrow The SBU men's tennis team has practiced hard all season, which has apparently paid off. SBU is right on track to win its 14th MIAA title in men's tennis.

In the words of Southwest Baptist Tennis Head Coach John Bryant, it was "one of the greatest displays of courage" he had ever seen.
Sophomore Emilio El Alabi, fighting through cramped hands, arms, legs and feet, pulled out a gutsy two-set singles match to help SBU upset unbeaten Washburn 5-3 in a key MIAA meet.
"I tried to get him to quit," said Bryant. "But he said, 'Let me try to finish the set.'"
After a 6-3 win in the opening set, El Alabi was leading sophomore Drew Hanson, his Washburn opponent, 4-1 in the second, just two games away from winning the match.
As they started the next game, El Alabi's hands, legs, arms and feet all started to cramp, causing him to lose control of his racquet which fell out of his hand and onto the court.
Attempting to play through the pain, El Alabi dropped the next four games, watching his 4-1 edge turn into a 5-4 deficit. It was at that moment, that Bryant offered some advice.
"After I realized he wasn't going to quit, I told him to hit the ball as hard as he could," said Bryant. "Stay out of long points and just swing the racket."
Bryant's strategy worked. El Alabi won the next game and played Henson to a 6-6 draw, forcing a tiebreaker. Jumping out to a 5-0 lead, El Alabi won the tiebreaker (7-3), the set (7-6) and the match (6-3, 7-6).
Following the meet, El Alabi was named the MIAA Men's Tennis Player of the Week, becoming the first SBU player to be awarded that honor this season.
With El Alabi's victory, the Bearcats were able to hand the unbeaten Ichabods their first loss of the season. With the loss, Washburn's record fell to 13-1 overall and 2-0 in the MIAA. The Ichabods were ranked 22nd in the nation in the latest NCAA Division II Intercollegiate Tennis Association Top 40 Poll. SBU, improving to 9-9 overall and 2-1 in the conference, is ranked 36th nationally.
In a battle of each team's top players, SBU's nationally-ranked freshman, Alex Kacamakis (21st), defeated Rutger Vliegenberg (28th) 6-4, 7-5. In the other singles matches, sophomore Agustin Mollar won 6-1, 6-1; sophomore Alan Mohadeb triumphed 6-3, 6-3 and junior Daniel Prerad fell 4-6, 3-6.

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