Ragin' Cajuns finish 2nd in SunBelt Tennis. Await NCAA invite

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The Ragin' Cajuns of 2005 started 1-4 and finished 11-2* wow.

I thought I would break the season down a bit and look at individual wins and losses that the schools season record is based on. A single win or loss by UL might mean the team went anywhere between 7-0 or 0-7 in match play on the day. (no I'm not going to break it down into sets)

After starting 2005 with a match record of 11-24 vs. ranked opponents whose average ranking was 41, the Ragin' Cajuns of Louisiana really turned the season around down the stretch.

After the initial slow start Louisiana's match record the rest of the way has been 63-19 against a very good schedule, the stretch schedule included 4 ranked opponents whose average ranking was 29.

Congratulations to the Ragin' Cajun Tennis squad for turning a .31 winning percentage into a winning percent just under 77 percent, for a year to date match winning percentage of .63 not too shabby.

* The season isn't over, today the Ragin’ Cajuns play for the Sunbelt Championship. Geaux Cajuns.

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No. 2 Louisiana defeats defending champs No. 3 South Alabama 4-1

MOBILE, Ala. – Defending Sun Belt champs and tournament host South Alabama (16-8) fell prey to No. 2 seed Louisiana (12-6) 4-1 in the men’s semi-finals of the 2005 Aéropostale Sun Belt Conference Championships. The Ragin’ Cajuns advance to face No. 1 seed Middle Tennessee (17-6) in Saturday’s 1:30 championship match at the Bruce David Lubel Memorial Tennis Courts.

Louisiana’s 52nd ranked doubles tandem of Evghenii Corduneanu and Amajot Singh claimed a 9-7 flight one doubles victory over the 50th ranked doubles team of Clinton Jacobs and Dias Doskarayev. In flight three doubles Louisiana’s Robin Ley and Shaun Ellison defeated the team of Sam Huffman and Tiago Esperito Santo 9-7.

All-conference honoree Dusan Tabak defeated USA’s Jacobs 6-4, 6-3 in flight three singles. Louisiana’s Shaun Ellison defeated Doskarayev 6-1, 6-3 in flight four doubles and Kerei Abakar defeated USA’s Mark Gellard 6-3, 6-4 in flight six doubles. Franticek Babej earned the only point for the Jaguars with a 6-1, 6-4 flight one singles victory over Evghenii Corduneanu.

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Louisiana's Ragin' Cajuns came through with the best match of the Justin McGrath Era on Saturday in Mobile, Ala., topping defending champion South Alabama 4-1 in the men's semifinals of the Sun Belt Conference Tennis Championships.

The victory sends the Cajuns into today's 1:30 p.m. finals against top-seeded Middle Tennessee, a 4-0 winner over Denver.

"I just think this team has been through a lot this season, and we've really grown up," McGrath said. "We took all we went through and learned from it. We came here to bring back the championship to the University of Louisiana.

"It was the best match I've seen in three years here. It was beautiful to watch."

UL won the doubles point as No. 52-ranked Evghenii Corduneanu and Amonjot Singh defeated Dias Doskarayev and Clinton Jacobs 9-7 and the team of Robin Ley and Shaun Ellison were 9-7 better than Sam Huffman and Tiago Espirito Santo.

Singles winners included No. 3 Kerei Abakar (6-4, 6-3 over Jacobs), No. 4 Dusan Tabak (6-1, 6-3 over Doskarayev) and No. 6 Ellison (6-3, 6-4 over Mark Gellard).

"They had a guy (No. 2 Pavel Mazaev) who was out when we beat them during the season, who was back, so that concerned me," McGrath said. "Obviously they were at full strength."

Mazaev and Singh's No. 2 match was halted once UL won.

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Bruce Brown
bbrown@theadvertiser.com

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Louisiana drops Sun Belt crown in dramatic fashion

MOBILE, Ala. – High intensity and drama surrounded the Lubel Courts as Middle Tennessee claimed the 2005 Sun Belt Conference Men’s Tennis Championship. More than four hours after the match started, the top-seeded Blue Raiders (18-6) earned the 4-3 victory over No. 2 seed Louisiana-Lafayette (12-7).

The Ragin’ Cajuns took an early advantage in the match when they won the doubles point. The duo of Dusan Tabak and Kerei Abakar defeated the 22nd ranked twosome of Brandon Allan and Kai Schledorn 8-5 in flight two. In flight three Robin Ley and Shaun Ellison claimed an 8-5 win over Greg Pollack and Anant Sitaram.

The Blue Raiders were down headed into singles play, but they most certainly were not out.

“It’s not easy, but we’ve had to come back from behind before,” said Middle Tennessee coach Dale Short.

Sitaram began the comeback with a 6-4, 6-4 flight five win over ULL’s Ley. The Blue Raiders then earned another point in a heated flight one match between two of the conference’s top players as Andreas Siljestrom defeated Evghenii Corduneanu 4-6, 6-1, 6-1.

ULL’s Amanjot Singh then tied the match with a 7-6 (2), 7-5 flight two win against All-conference selection Marco Born.

Allan defeated ULL’s Shaun Ellison 6-4, 7-6 (5) to regain the MT lead, but the Ragin’ Cajuns quickly retied the match with a 3-6, 6-3, 7-6 (3) flight six win by Abakar over Pollack.

With the match tied 3-3, the flight three match up between Schledorn and Tabak would decide this year’s Sun Belt champion.

Schledorn finally sealed the deal for the Blue Raiders in an action-packed 6-4, 2-6, 7-6 (7-3) match.

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