ROME, Ga. (October 19, 2025) – Lubbock Christian University men's tennis continued its rapid rise on the national stage this weekend, as redshirt junior Kelly Giese became the first Chaparral in program history to reach the national semifinals at the prestigious ITA Cup, highlighting a historic showing for the program at Rome Tennis Center at Berry College.
 
The Chaparrals, now in just their fourth season as an NCAA program, made school history by qualifying three singles players for the 2025 ITA Cup — Giese, Pablo Segura, and Andres De Los Rios — marking the first time LCU has sent multiple participants to the national singles championship. The trio represented three of the eight national at-large selections in the 16-player Division II singles field, a rare feat achieved by only a handful of programs across the country.
 
Giese, the tournament's No. 4 seed, authored a historic run through the draw to reach the national semifinals — the deepest postseason advance ever by an LCU tennis player. In the Round of 16, the Manhattan Beach, Calif. native opened with a 7–6 (7–4), 6–2 victory over Asier Ayllon Prado of Indianapolis, before rallying past Lukas Janousek of Cameron University 5–7, 6–1, 6–1 in the Quarterfinals. Giese's semifinal berth placed him among the final four players in the nation, where he fell in a hard-fought three-set battle to Diego Duran of West Florida, 2–6, 6–4, 6–4. Giese finishes the ITA Cup with a 2–1 record and improves to 8–3 overall this fall, with two wins over nationally ranked opponents.
 
In addition to Giese's run, Andres De Los Rios and Pablo Segura each picked up victories in the consolation rounds after dropping competitive opening matches to seeded opponents. De Los Rios — a senior from Madrid, Spain — faced the nation's top seed Soeren Grandke of Azusa Pacific in the opening round, falling 6–1, 6–3 before bouncing back with a 6–3, 7–5 win over Leon Grassnickel (Edinboro) in the Consolation Quarterfinals. He concluded his tournament with a narrow 6–4, 7–5 loss to Pavlos Parson (Washburn) in the Consolation Semifinals, bringing his season record to 11–4.
 
Segura, a junior from Playa del Carmen, Mexico, also battled through a strong field, opening against No. 3 seed Pedro Liborio of North Georgia — a 6–4, 1–6, 7–5 defeat decided in the final games. He rebounded with a three-set victory over Tadeo Gaggiofatto (Indianapolis) 6–3, 0–6, 6–4 in the Consolation Quarters before falling to Malo Poulesquen (UT Tyler) 6–2, 3–6, 6–4 in the Consolation Semifinals. Segura leaves Rome with a 1–2 record for the week and a 7–3 mark overall this fall.
 
The strong collective performance marks a milestone in LCU's young NCAA history. Prior to this year, the program's lone ITA Cup competitor had been Martins Abamu, who reached the national field in 2022 and 2023. Giese's national semifinal appearance now stands as the deepest ITA Cup run ever by an LCU player, surpassing Abamu's 2023 quarterfinal showing.
 
Head coach Hutton Jones' squad continues to position itself among the elite in the South Central Region and beyond, as the Chaparrals were the only program nationwide to feature three singles competitors in this year's Division II field.
 
The ITA Cup — celebrating its 39th edition this fall — represents the highest individual championship in NCAA Division II tennis, featuring the nation's top 16 singles players from eight regional champions and eight at-large selections.
 
With the fall national championship concluded, LCU will close out its fall schedule at the Ralston/Neufeld Coaches Challenge, hosted by SMU, Oct. 31–Nov. 2 in Dallas.