UNC Asheville men, women tennis teams win Big South, earn NCAA Tournament berth for first time
It was a big day on the courts for UNC Asheville.
With Big South tournament titles on the line, both the men's and women's tennis teams earned automatic berths in the NCAA Tournament with victories in their matches Monday at the Marion Diehl Tennis Center in Charlotte.
It's the first time both programs clinched the Big South tournament on the same day, and the first time each program is going to the NCAA Tournament.
UNC Asheville men's tennis makes first NCAA Tournament
No. 2-seeded UNC Asheville men beat Gardner-Webb 4-1 for the Big South title.
After dropping the first two doubles matches and losing the doubles point, the Bulldogs turned it around to win four consecutive singles matches. Sophomore Tarek Erlewein, the No. 4 singles player in Asheville's lineup, won the clinching match, 6-3, 7-5, against the No. 1 Runnin' Bulldogs.
No. 2 singles player Sam Nicholson (6-2, 6-0), No. 3 Jon Brann Reid (6-2, 7-5) and No. 5 Bruno Serra (6-1, 6-4) all won their matches. The other two matches did not finish after Asheville clinched the championship.
It's the first time Asheville has won the Big South Tournament since 1986 and will mark the program's first NCAA Tournament appearance.
UNC Asheville women's tennis outlasts Charleston Southern
It came down to the final court for No. 1-seeded UNC Asheville women.
Sophomore Valeria Centeno, the No. 6 singles player, was the final match, prevailing 6-4, 4-6, 7-5, to send the Bulldogs to the NCAA Tournament with a 4-3 win over No. 2 Charleston Southern.
No. 5 singles player Rosie Dickson (6-1, 6-3) and No. 1 Linge Steenkamp (7-6 (7-3), 7-5) both won their matches. Asheville also won two of three doubles matches to earn another point.
The Bulldogs won the Big South for the first time since winning three straight from 1987-89 and stopped the Buccaneers' attempt for a four-peat.
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Both Asheville teams will learn first-round opponent during the Selection Show at 6 p.m. on April 29. The NCAA Tournament gets underway May 3.
Evan Gerike is the high school sports reporter for the Asheville Citizen Times. Email him at egerike@citizentimes.com or follow him on Twitter @EvanGerike. Please support this type of journalism with a subscription to the Citizen Times.
This article originally appeared on Asheville Citizen Times: UNC Asheville men, women tennis teams earn first NCAA Tournament berth
