This Week on the Courts

The #4 seed Coastal Carolina men's tennis team (15-7, 4-3 Big South) travels down to Birmingham, Ala., to participate in the Big South Men's Tennis Tournament from April 13-15 starting with #5 seed High Point (10-9, 3-4 Big South) on Thursday, April 13 at 11:30 a.m. The winner plays the winner of the #1 seed Radford Highlanders/#8 seed Liberty Flames on Friday, April 14 at 10:30 a.m.

CCU is 1-6 lifetime against High Point, but the win came this year as Coastal prevailed 4-3. After dropping the doubles point, the Chanticleers rallied to win four of the six singles points to escape with their first ever victory over the Panthers.

Coastal dropped its only match of the week to #1 seed Winthrop 7-0 on Friday, April 7. The lone Chanticleer to go to the third set was junior Simon Taylor, who lost 6-2, 6-7, 6-1.

It's Been a Good Run

CCU's men's tennis team, since the start of March, has been on a great run, having gone 11-4 in the last month plus, including three conference wins. CCU's four confererence wins this season were most wins in league play since 1996, when the Chants won five. Coastal's 15 wins this season are the programs second most ever. Coastal secured themselves both a winning season and a winning conference season for the first time since 1996.

Junior Simon Taylor has now won 44 matches in his playing career, good for ninth place on Coastal's all-time singles victories list. He only trails James Salmon by four for eighth all-time at CCU.

Coastal Carolina senior Brian Dowis and sophomore David Mellis are a solid 8-5 on the doubles court as a team this year.

The addition of junior transfer Elliott Quibell has been welcomed as CCU is playing its best tennis since 1996. Quibell has a tied team-best 16 wins on the singles courts this season. Junior teammate Simon Taylor has been as impressive as he is 16-6 on the singles courts and 14-6 on the doubles courts.

Coastal Carolina's tennis team was picked seventh in the 2006 Big South's preseason poll. Winthrop is the preseason picked to win the conference. Coastal returns seven letter winners including senior Brian Dowis and junior Simon Taylor to led the team this season.

CCU's Brian Dowis was named to the ESPN The Magazine Academic All District III Men's at Large First Team in the summer of 2005. Dowis, a mathematics major, had a grade point average of 3.922 and was also named the Big South's Conferences Men's Tennis Scholar Athlete of the Year. He was the sixth Coastal men's tennis player to be named the Scholar-Athlete of the Year and the third in the last four years.

Coastal Carolina tennis team had a successful fall season. Junior Ryan Weisband and sophomore Ryan Vrba each had 4-1 record to lead the team in singles play. In doubles junior Andy Caress had a team-best 7-2 record. The doubles pair of juniors Elliott Quibell and Simon Taylor were crowned as champions of the UNCW/Landfall Invitational.