ABAC returns serve for 2023

Published 9:00 am Thursday, June 9, 2022

TIFTON — The Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College Stallions came, saw and conquered in 2022 on the tennis courts, finishing No. 6 after not even sending a full crew to the NJCAA nationals in May. Now, Dale White has to reshape most of that roster.

Maybe one of the Stallions will be there in 2023, said White. There is better news for the Golden Fillies, who return nearly everyone, he said. White believes he will have five returning from that roster.

“Luckily, I already have seven guys committed,” he said. The next step is the paperwork to get them enrolled at ABAC. There is also positive news for the players moving on; White said. One is going to one of the NAIA’s best programs, another to a Division I NCAA school. Three more players have announced to White their intentions to play for four-year schools.

While he loses their contributions to his teams, White said it’s a thrill to see his athletes play for four-year colleges. “My No. 1 thing is to try and make sure their grades are good, improve in tennis and help them go where they want to go.”

The NJCAA tournaments were held in hot weather places this year, Arizona for the women and Texas for the men. With the Stallions’ sixth place finish in mind, White said he wasn’t bothered by the heat. “We did pretty well,” he said.

Cheng En Tsai won the second flight to finish as NJCAA champion, defeating Luke Quaynor in the finals, 6-2, 7-6.

ABAC almost had a second national champion in Gaston Cantero, who fell in three sets to Takeshi Taco in the first flight championship, 6-4, 3-6, 7-5.

“Gaston had two match points to win,” White said. Cantero was up 5-4 in the third set. “DIdn’t quite manage to close it out.”

Both were named All-Americans, Tsai first team and Cantero second team. “Having Roger (Tsai) win right next to [Cantero] on the last day was pretty special,” said White. Cantero is the Stallions’ first nationals champion since Yohan Nguyen in 2017. Coincidentally, Nguyen also won Flight No. 2.

“We managed to take advantage of the draws that we got,” White said. “To get to the semifinals at No. 3 was an amazing run as well.”

Ignacio Orgaz was the other singles player to reach the semis, despite being the sixth seed in his flight. In doubles, Tsai and Cantero also reached the final four, with Saranphon Siriwanichkul advancing to the quarterfinals.

The run was even sweeter for ABAC. They took only five players to Texas, one short of a full roster. Because of this, the Stallions were unable to compete in one singles flight and one doubles flight. White chooses to reflect on what they did accomplish instead of what could have been.

“It would have been nice to have six guys,” he said, “but I think with five of them they went there to achieve something.”

Quarterfinals were the name of the game for the Fillies at nationals. Five of their six singles players and all three doubles teams fell in that round in Tucson.

“We played the higher seed in each one of those,” he said, except for one doubles flight. In that one, ABAC was a No. 4 to a No. 5 in the quarters. Though fate was against them this year, it’s only second time that White can remember everyone winning on the first day.

The Golden Fillies’ nationals roster was Nicole Dufour, Jou Chen Chen, Yazmin Barrios, Ellie Black, Tiffany Beukes, Lilla Jerry and Patricia Principal. Jerry only competed in singles, with Principal forming a doubles team with Black.

All ABAC players won by straight sets in their opening matches. With the exception of the lone flight knocked out in the second round, all of those victories were in straight sets as well.