WICHITA FALLS, Texas (October 2, 2022) – This season is Lubbock Christian University's first season to have intercollegiate tennis since 1982 and they made history competing in their first-ever ITA Division II Men's Tennis South Central Regional Championship, as Martins Abamu was the singles champion and qualifies for the ITA Cup in Rome, Ga. October 13-16.
 
Abamu is one of 16 national qualifiers and one of eight to receive an automatic berth (eight at-large berths have not been announced) to the national event. Abamu went 6-0 in Wichita Falls, defeating two regionally seeded individuals in the process. He only lost one set of the 13 sets played, using a 7-4 tie-breaker once (against Marcal Miret Avante of Midwestern State in the Round of 16) to avoid a third set. The one set he did lose was in the championship final against Takumi Katsuda of Texas Permian Basin, which he followed with a 7-5 win of the third set to clinch LCU's first tournament title.
 
LCU had solid outings throughout the three-day tournament hosted by Midwestern State. The Chaps had two player in the semifinals, which forced Abamu to face LCU teammate Kelly Giese. Abamu defeated Giese (6-1, 6-4) to hand Giese his only loss of the tournament. Giese went 4-1, with three victories over regionally seeded individuals. He topped No.2-seeded Thomas Cardona (Cameron), which has provided Giese with wins over the top-two seeded players of the event this season (he defeated No.1-seed Tomas Almeida on Sept. 9).
 
Nine of LCU's 10 competitors registered a victory at the event, including Abamu (6-0), Giese (4-1), Braden Tipton (2-1), Herman Aguirre (2-2) and Carlos Gutierrez (2-2), who each collected at least two wins in singles matches. Tipton placed LCU with three individuals that had at least one victory against a regionally seeded competitor.  In doubles, Carlos Gutierrez / Sabri Laphitz and Kelly Giese / Braden Tipton each went 2-1 and lost in the quarterfinals. All five LCU doubles teams recorded at least one win, with Gutierrez / Laphitz claiming LCU's lone win over a regionally seeded doubles team.

REGAL SPEEGLE

WHAT HEAD COACH JASON SPEEGLE HAD TO SAY

"First year tennis program, LCU turned heads and made a huge statement at the ITA Men's Regional Championship this week. In singles, Chaps players turned the bracket upside down by defeating the No.1,2,3,6,7,and 10 seeds. Braden Tipton defeated the top seed in the second round. Kelly Giese defeated the No.2, 7 and 10 seeds en route to the semifinals. No.11-seed Martins Abamu won the whole tournament to qualify for the ITA Cup National tournament in Georgia. I am so proud of the fight our men showed. We are a family and we played for each other and represented LCU amazingly well with excellent play. What a start to our inaugural season! "

SINGLES RESULTS
Bqf Jack Williams (Lubbock Christian) def. Brandon Jett (Dallas Baptist) 6-4, 6-2
Bsf Marianno Guzmann (Dallas Baptist) def. Jack Williams (Lubbock Christian) 6-0, 6-3

64 Braden Tipton (Lubbock Christian) def. Mario Urdaneta (St. Mary's) 6-3, 4-6, 1-0 (10-7)
64 Joao Duleba (Cameron) def. Carlos Gutierrez (Lubbock Christian) 6-0, 6-3
64 Sebastian Azcui (St. Mary's) def. Alex Donnelly (Lubbock Christian) 2-6, 6-1, 1-0 (10-7)
64 Alvaro Chavez (Cameron) def. Herman Aguirre (Lubbock Christian) 6-4, 6-2
64 Dia Ndumbe (Lubbock Christian) def. Lachlan Rowing (Western New Mexico) 6-4, 6-4
64 Paul Schwieger (Texas Permian Basin) def. Matthijs Mallee (Lubbock Christian) 6-3, 6-3
64 Martins Abamu (Lubbock Christian) def. Ian Freire (St. Mary's) 6-1, 6-1
64 Kelly Giese (Lubbock Christian) def. Carlo Lorente-Zarate (Texas Permian Basin) 6-1, 6-0
64 Thomas Cardona (Cameron) def. Sabri Laphitz (Lubbock Christian) 6-0, 3-6, 1-0 (10-5)

c32q Carlos Gutierrez (Lubbock Christian) def. Lorenzo Orellano (Western New Mexico) 6-1, 6-1
c32q Alex Donnelly (Lubbock Christian) def. Amir Sanaei Ardakani (UT Tyler) 6-2, 6-1
c32q Herman Aguirre (Lubbock Christian) def. Fabian Rosales (Dallas Baptist) 7-5, 6-1
c32q Paul Claussen (Western New Mexico) def. Matthijs Mallee (Lubbock Christian) 6-3, 7-5
c32q Sabri Laphitz (Lubbock Christian) def. Hector Flores (Texas Permian Basin) 6-1, 6-4

c16 Carlos Gutierrez (Lubbock Christian) def. Alex Donnelly (Lubbock Christian) 6-2
c16 Herman Aguirre (Lubbock Christian) def. Edgar Mayorga Calva (Dallas Baptist) 6-3, 6-4
c16 Stefan Andrei (Midwestern State) def. Sabri Laphitz (Lubbock Christian) 6-4

cqf Jonas Dixon (UT Tyler) def. Carlos Gutierrez (Lubbock Christian) 6-3, 6-1
cqf Luis Diaz Argente (Midwestern State) def. Herman Aguirre (Lubbock Christian) 6-1, 6-4

32 Braden Tipton (Lubbock Christian) def. Tomas Almeida (Cameron) 3-6, 7-5, 1-0 (10-7)
32 Grzegorz Rudnicki (Texas Permian Basin) def. Dia Ndumbe (Lubbock Christian) 6-1, 6-2
32 Martins Abamu (Lubbock Christian) def. Javier Romero (Western New Mexico) 6-1, 6-4
32 Kelly Giese (Lubbock Christian) def. Yudai Watanabe (UT Tyler) 2-6, 6-3, 1-0 (10-8)

16 Takumi Katsuda (Texas Permian Basin) def. Braden Tipton (Lubbock Christian) 6-2, 6-3
16 Martins Abamu (Lubbock Christian) def. Marcal Miret Avante (Midwestern State) 7-5, 7-6 (7-4)
16 Kelly Giese (Lubbock Christian) def. Borja Delgado (Midwestern State) 7-5, 6-3

qf Martins Abamu (Lubbock Christian) def. Gonzalo Fernandez (UT Tyler) 6-3, 6-2
qf Kelly Giese (Lubbock Christian) def. Thomas Cardona (Cameron) 6-4, 7-5

sf Martins Abamu (Lubbock Christian) def. Kelly Giese (Lubbock Christian) 6-1, 6-4
FINAL: Martins Abamu (Lubbock Christian) def. Takumi Katsuda (Texas Permian Basin) 2-6, 6-0, 7-5

DOUBLES RESULTS
bsf Jack Williams/Dia Ndumbe (Lubbock Christian) def. Jacob Capone/Oliver Whittaker (Dallas Baptist) 8-6
bfi Marianno Guzmann/Zach Capone (Dallas Baptist) def. Jack Williams/Dia Ndumbe (Lubbock Christian) 8-6
32 Alex Donnelly/Matthijs Mallee (Lubbock Christian) def. Carlo Lorente-Zarate/Carson Bolton (Texas Permian Basin) 8-2
32 Carlos Gutierrez/Sabri Laphitz (Lubbock Christian) def. Arturo Langle/Bradley Neil (Dallas Baptist) 8-3
32 Kelly Giese/Braden Tipton (Lubbock Christian) def. Bernhard Hauer/Alvaro Soler (St. Mary's) 8-6
32 Fabian Rosales/Aaron Capone (Dallas Baptist) def. Herman Aguirre/Martins Abamu (Lubbock Christian) 8-5
c16q Martins Abamu/Herman Aguirre (Lubbock Christian) def. Patricio Larrea/Brendan Lock (Western New Mexico) 8-6
16 Stephen Slocombe/Borja Delgado (Midwestern State) def. Alex Donnelly/Matthijs Mallee (Lubbock Christian) 8-4
16 Carlos Gutierrez/Sabri Laphitz (Lubbock Christian) def. Grzegorz Rudnicki/Patryk Kosinski (Texas Permian Basin) 8-6
16 Braden Tipton/Kelly Giese (Lubbock Christian) def. Edgar Mayorga Calva/Alec Rule (Dallas Baptist) 8-4
qf Jonas Dixon/Yudai Watanabe (UT Tyler) def. Sabri Laphitz/Carlos Gutierrez (Lubbock Christian) 8-4
qf Takumi Katsuda/Jonas Krahofer (Texas Permian Basin) def. Braden Tipton/Kelly Giese (Lubbock Christian) 8-2