Men's Tennis | 5/15/2025 4:36:00 PM
MIAMI SHORES, Fla. -- The Barry University Buccaneers will be the No. 2 seed in the 2025 NCAA Division II Men's Tennis Finals, moving up a spot after upsetting host West Florida in the South 2 Regional final. The Bucs, who have won seven national championships, can tie Lander for the most titles with a win in Orlando. It will be the men's 25th appearance at the final site, 10th via a regional championship berth. The Buccaneers have won seven of the last eight South Regional brackets (not including 2020 due to COVID-19 season cancellation).
The Bucs (20-3) face off against the 15th-seeded Tigers of Ouachita Baptist (15-9) on Tuesday, May 20 at Sanlando Park at noon ET in the first round of the tournament. It will be the 10th match up between the two teams as Barry leads it 6-3, having won the last four. It will be their first time facing off since 2012 when the Buccaneers hosted the Tigers at the Buccaneer Tennis Center for a regular season match as Barry took it 6-3. This also marks the fourth time that the teams will meet in postseason play, dating back to the first time in 1998.
Barry enters the field ranked third by the ITA, while the Tigers are ranked 36th.
The Bucs are led by three newcomers in ITA ranked no. 38 Riccardo Trione at flight one holding a 9-4 record, Gabriele Felline at flight two with an 11-5 record and ITA ranked no. 33 Yan Kodjoed at flight three with an 11-4 record. Adam Lynch remains undefeated at 11-0 playing between courts four and five. In doubles, Tim Riedel and Felline team up on court two and hold an ITA ranking of 36 while battling out a 16-5 record. Leo Caill and Lynch play on court one and are ranked 38th by the ITA as they are 6-3 on the year.
The Tigers advanced out of the Central Region with a 4-3 win over Harding. They are led by the no. 1 ranked singles player in the ITA, Phil Exner (18-5). Ramon Strassmann is the only other Tiger ranked at 45th with a 14-8 record. They partner up on doubles and hold a 16-8 record on court one and are ranked 10th in the ITA.
The Tigers-Buccaneers winner will take on the winner of seventh-seeded Washburn vs. tenth-seeded Concordia-Irvine on Wednesday, May 21 at 3:00 pm (Eastern).
