ARLINGTON, Texas (April 19, 2023) – No.4-seed Lubbock Christian University makes their Lone Star Conference Championship debut Thursday with an early morning (8 a.m.) quarterfinals dual against No.5-seed Arkansas Fort Smith at Arlington Tennis Center.
The Chaps seek to add another chapter to a successful 2022-23 campaign, which has them regionally ranked No.4 in the NCAA Division II South Central Region Rankings. The Chaps are 11-8 this season (in duals) and head to the LSC Championships as the No.4-seed after a 5-3 LSC duals record.
They face a Lions squad that went 5-11 this season, with a 3-5 mark in LSC dual action. LCU defeated the Lions 6-1 Friday in Lubbock. They feature the No.26 nationally ranked doubles team of Killian Darneaux and Anis Ramchane, who are ranked one spot ahead of LCU's No.27 nationally ranked doubles team of
Kelly Giese and
Braden Tipton despite a 6-2 Giese/Tipton victory in Lubbock. Ramchance, an All-LSC Honorable Mention selection, is also nationally ranked No.36 in singles. He fell 6-4 6-4 in straight sets to LCU's
Martins Abamu.
Abamu was named LSC Newcomer of the Year this season and he has had a solid season, which started off by claiming the singles championship of the ITA South Central Region Tournament (received an invite to the ITA Cup in the fall). Currently ranked No.25 in singles by the ITA, the Lagos, Nigeria native is 20-8 overall in doubles play this season and 12-8 in doubles matches. Abamu, 3-2 against nationally ranked opponents, has gone 11-2 when playing the No.1 singles slot this season. He went 4-4 in LSC singles play and 5-2 in LSC doubles play during the regular season. Abamu is 7-3 in his last 10 singles and doubles matches played. He was named Co-Sportsmanship Player of the Year, which headlined the LSC Men's Tennis Sportsmanship Team, which exemplifies outstanding sportsmanship, character and ethical conduct while displaying the true spirit of competition and college tennis. Abamu is slated to play in the No.3-doubles alongside teammate
Herman Aguirre. The tandem is 5-2 in LSC play together, with a 10-5 overall record.
Kelly Giese heads into the LSC Championships ranked No.64 in singles and No.27 in doubles (with Tipton) by the ITA. The freshman from Manhattan Beach, Calif. is 17-8 overall this season in singles, going 12-6 in duals (in singles) and 6-2 in singles in LSC duals. Primarily playing No.2-singles matches, Giese is 9-4 in No.2-singles matches and 3-2 in No.1-singles matches. Giese (8-2 in his last 10 singles matches played) is 1-0 in singles against national ranked opponents.
Joining with Tipton, the Giese/Tipton tandem is 15-7 overall on the season. They went 6-2 in LSC dual doubles play and 11-5 overall in duals doubles play. They are 3-2 against nationally ranked programs and 8-2 in their last 10 doubles played. Tipton is also a freshman, as the Lubbock native came to LCU from Frenship High School.
LCU's doubles teams went 14-10 this season in LSC duals (46-33 overall). The No.2-doubles team (for LCU) slated to face UAFS is
Alex Donnelly and
Matthijs Mallee. The pair went 2-3 in LSC duals, with a win coming against UAFS Friday (6-0 over Eduardo Bribiesca / Juan Rosello, who they will face Thursday).
Abamu (No.1-singles), Giese (No.2-singles), Aguirre (No.3-singles) and Tipton (No.6-singles) will participate in singles play, and joining them on the LCU lineup is
Sabri Laphitz (No.4-singles) and
Carlos Gutierrez (No.5-singles). Laphitz has a 3-2 record playing in No.4-singles and is aiming to end a three-match losing streak. Gutierrez is focusing on a second straight win against UAFS's Juan Patino, who he faced Friday.
The winner of Thursday's dual will move to the semifinals Friday (9:30 a.m.), where they will face the winner of the quarterfinals matchup between No.1 UT Tyler and No.8 Western New Mexico.
