1-General | 10/15/2010 4:23:00 PM
MOBILE, Ala.—Emanuel Fraitzl defeated Armstrong Atlantic’s Edualdo Bonet 1-6, 6-4, 6-4 to capture the NCAA Division II singles title at the USTA/ITA National Small College Championships on Saturday to become the first Buccaneer in history to win a team title and an individual title during their career.
Fraitzl dropped the first set to Bonet, the 2008 Small College singles champ, 6-1 and fell behind 0-2 in the second set. But he ground out a 6-4 win in the second set by taking six of the next eight games. In the third set, he fell behind 1-4 but reeled off five straight games to take the title.
Fraitzl is the third Buccaneer to win the NCAA Division II singles title. Herbert Bende brought home the championship as a freshman in 1995, while Christian Witt was a junior in 1999 when he won the title.
Fraitzl advances to the Super Bowl of Small College Tennis to face the NCAA Division III champ, Dillion Pottish of Emory University. Pottish, the number-two ranked player in Division III, rolled to three straight-set victories to claim the D-III title. Pottish fell 6-3, 6-1 to Fraitzl’s Buccaneer teammate Marco Mokrzycki during the Bucs’ 8-1 win over the Eagles last season.
The "Super Bowl" champions earn wild cards into the USTA/ITA National Intercollegiate Indoor Championships with the opportunity to win the culminating event held November 4-7, 2010 at the USTA-Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in Flushing, N.Y.
UPDATE
Fraitzl defeated Emory's Dillion Pottish 7-5, 6-4 in the ITA Small College "Super Bowl" semifinals. He will face Fresno Pacific's Kirill Sinitysyn in the finals on Sunday at 10:00 am Central time.
Fraitzl in ITA National Championship Match
MOBILE, Ala.—Emanuel Fraitzl of the Barry men’s tennis team advanced to the finals of the ITA National Championship after two wins on Thursday and Friday.
On Thursday, Fraitzl faced redshirt freshman Hans Hach from Abilene Christian. The Barry senior fell in his first set to Hach 6-1. Fraitzl then tied the match after a 6-4 win in the second set. In a dominating third set, Fraitzl moved to the semifinals on a 6-1 win.
“I came into my match on Thursday over confident,” Fraitzl said. “I thought I would just show up and my opponent would roll over. Obviously he did not roll over when he beat me 6-1 in the first set. I realized I needed to play good tennis to win. So I turned it around in the second set and won.”
On Friday, Fraitzl played Rong Ma from BYU-Hawaii in the national semifinals and only needed two sets to defeat Rong. The German native moved to the national championship match with a 7-6 (4) 6-2 win.
“I think he played very well today.” Assistant coach Thomas Hipp who traveled to Mobile, Ala., with Fraitzl said. “He struggled a little bit with his serve and in the first set actually was behind 6-5 because of several double faults. Emanuel [Fraitzl] started losing his focus in the match. He began getting frustrated with his play and then focused on the referees. But he ended up pulling things back together and taking a nice win. The biggest difference in Emu [Fraitzl] from last year to this year is his maturity. The Fraitzl from a few years ago would probably have lost both yesterday and today’s match. His talent has always been extremely good and now his maturity is starting to show on the court too.”
Fraitzl plays Eudaldo Bonet in the ITA National Championship Saturday, Oct. 16 at 5:00 p.m. Bonet finished the 2010 season as the #9 nationally-ranked player in the nation. Bonet won the ITA Division II singles title as a freshman in 2008.
“Bonet is going to be a very tough opponent,” Fraitzl said. “He beat me last year in Las Vegas in three sets. He just has a solid all-around game; good forehand, good backhand, good serve. I think my conditioning might give me an advantage tomorrow. I’ve played two hard matches in two days and feel great. Also, when I played him last year I could only hit a slice with my backhand. I took off hitting any backhands over the summer and now it feels better than ever.”
“Emanuel [Fraitzl] matches up well against Bonet,” Hipp said. “I think he can definitely beat him, but it’s not going to be easy. It’s going to come down to who executes better in the clutch moments of the match.”
