Indians wrap up NJCAA National Tournament play

FLORENCE, S.C. – The ICC men's tennis team wrapped up its 2024–25 campaign at the NJCAA Division I Men's Tennis Championship in Florence, South Carolina. The Indians placed 22nd overall in a field that featured the nation's top two-year programs.

After a full day of rain pushed opening-round matches to Tuesday, the Indians got off to a promising start. Joan Mateu Ramis Pascual opened No. 1 singles with a win after his opponent, Thompson Thomu of Jacksonville, was forced to retire. At No. 3 singles, Jack Semper delivered one of the most dominant wins of the day with a commanding 6-1, 6-0 victory over Bevill State's Luke Gardiner.

Luca Hoffmann battled through a three-set marathon in No. 5 singles but came up short against Sam Barclift of Bevill State, 3-6, 6-0, 1-6. Ben Orr also had a competitive outing in No. 6 singles before falling 6-3, 6-3 to Alejandro Rozo of Weatherford. Santiago Diaz faced a tough draw in sixth-ranked Shane Tapera of Barton and fell 6-1, 6-0 in No. 4 singles. Knox Waterer took on another top-10 opponent in eighth-ranked Aki Harada of USC Sumter at No. 2 singles and dropped a 6-1, 6-0 decision.

In doubles play, Ramis Pascual and Waterer nearly forced a third set in No. 1 doubles but ultimately dropped a 6-2, 7-5 decision to Daniel Blinov and Alexi Khamartou of Pratt. Hoffmann and Semper fell 6-2, 6-3 at No. 2 to Coastal Alabama-South's Enzo Loots and Lucas Van Splunteren. At No. 3, Diaz and Orr were defeated by Weatherford's Omar Hamzaoui and Christopher Schlossmann, 6-3, 6-2.

In the singles consolation brackets, Waterer continued his solid tournament with an 8-1 win over Evan Bernales of Lake County in No. 2 singles, advancing to the consolation semifinals. Diaz dropped a hard-fought 8-6 match at No. 4 to Cole Stoddard of Northwest. Hoffmann fell 8-2 in No. 5 to Pavle Markus of Seward, while Orr lost 8-1 in No. 6 to Seward's Ognjen Gajic.

In doubles consolation action, Semper and Hoffmann picked up an 8-3 win in No. 2 over Bevill State's Sam Barclift and Luke Emerson, advancing to the semifinals. Ramis Pascual and Waterer were forced to forfeit their No. 1 consolation match due to a walkover. At No. 3, Diaz and Orr fell 8-1 to Pablo Garcia and Tomas Kurz of Eastern Florida.

Hoffmann and Semper's run ended in the No. 2 doubles consolation semifinals with an 8-2 loss to USC Sumter's Harada and Long. Waterer also saw his singles run come to a close, falling 8-1 in the consolation semifinals to fourth-seeded Pedro De La Riva of Cowley.

The Indians finished the season 13-4 and 8-2 in conference play.

Pascual was selected to the MACCC Men's Tennis All-Conference team. The Manacor, Spain native held down No. 1 singles for the Indians this season, going 12-3 with conference wins over Co-Lin, Holmes, Gulf Coast, Northwest, East Central and Southwest. He teamed up with Waterer to combine for a 10-5 season record in doubles action.