ROME, Ga. (October 8, 2025) – Lubbock Christian University men's tennis made program history with three student-athletes — Kelly Giese, Pablo Segura, and Andres De Los Rios — earning at-large selections to the 2025 ITA Cup, marking the first time the Chaparrals have qualified multiple players for the prestigious national singles championship.
 
The 2025 ITA Cup will be held October 16–19 at the Rome Tennis Center at Berry College in Rome, Ga., celebrating its 39th year as the pinnacle fall championship for NCAA Division II singles and doubles competition. The 16-player field is comprised of eight regional champions and eight at-large selections, with Giese, Segura, and De Los Rios representing three of the eight national at-large bids.
 
Giese, a redshirt junior from Manhattan Beach, Calif., received the No. 4 overall seed in the national draw following his semifinal run at the ITA South Central Regional in Wichita Falls. He owns a 6–2 singles record this fall and has been ranked among the region's top performers since coming to LCU. Segura, a junior from Playa del Carmen, Mexico, reached the quarterfinals in Wichita Falls and enters the ITA Cup with a 6–1 mark in singles play. De Los Rios, a senior from Madrid, Spain, made a statement with a finals appearance at the South Central Regional, collecting four wins over seeded opponents, including top-seeded Giese, to earn his first ITA Cup berth. He carries a 10–2 singles record into Rome.
 
With the trio's inclusion, Lubbock Christian becomes one of only a handful of programs nationally to qualify three singles players in the same ITA Cup. The LSC boasts a strong presence in this year's draw with four total representatives: Giese, Segura, and De Los Rios from LCU, joined by Midwestern State's Germano Setti. Cameron's Lukas Janousek, who defeated De Los Rios in the regional final, claimed the South Central's automatic berth.
 
Now in just its fourth season as an NCAA program, LCU continues to make rapid strides on the national stage. The Chaparrals had previously produced only one ITA Cup participant in school history — Martins Abamu, who earned the South Central's automatic qualifier in 2022 and returned as an at-large selection in 2023.
 
The ITA Cup stands as the highest individual championship in Division II tennis, as the NCAA awards team championships only in the spring dual-match season. The event brings together the nation's top singles and doubles competitors across all divisions. Pairings for the 16-player singles field will be announced prior to the tournament's opening round on October 16.