UPDATE:
Armstrong’s women’s tennis team repeated as NCAA DII national champs today with a much-tougher-than-the-score-appears 5-2 win over BYU Hawaii.
The men’s team narrowly lost to #1 ranked and undefeated Barry, 5-4. The men lost all three doubles matches, so they went into singles needing to win five out of six. Congrats to all!
ORIGINAL POST:
The Armstrong Atlantic State University men’s tennis team begins play at noon eastern time against #1-ranked Barry. Armstrong is attempting to repeat as national champs in NCAA DII.
Click here to watch the action live at ncaa.com.
The Armstrong women are also defending national champs. They play later this afternoon against BYU Hawaii.
Here’s a snippet from a great interview with Armstrong coach Simon Earnshaw, The man behind the dynasty:
In his 14th season as Armstrong’s head coach, Earnshaw, an English native, owns astonishing career statistics — a 316-75 overall record with the men and a 382-33 record with the women. The Lady Pirates have won five Division II national titles (2005, 2008-10 and 2012) under Earnshaw. The men have three (2008, ’09 and 2012).
For the sake of space, accept that he has won multiple Intercollegiate Tennis Association Division II Women’s National Coach of the Year awards, ITA Mid-Atlantic Region Men’s Coach of the Year awards, Peach Belt Conference Coach of the Year awards, and so on.
One of his former players, All-American Manuela Emmrich from Magdeburg, Germany, was present during Thursday’s quarterfinal victory against No. 1 Barry.
“One of the big reasons why we’ve managed to put together this run,†Earnshaw said of Emmrich’s legacy. “Was very responsible for my first national championship in 2005. Won both the singles and doubles in the final.â€
Here’s a shot of Matus Mydla playing #1 for the men’s team a few weeks ago in regional action:
Click here for more recent pics of both teams.