The Prairie View men’s tennis team is steadily improving. The team has been climbing the ranks of the Southwestern Athletic Conference.
The man behind the team is Head Coach John Cochran Jr. and the voice of the team is team captain Blessing Bvunzawabaya. The team came in this year with six returning players and three newcomers who showed their worth with a stellar performance at the 4th Annual Althea Gibson HBCU Tennis Championship in Tallahassee, Florida. Teams that competed along with PVU were FAMU, Hampton University, Jackson State, Alcorn State, Grambling State, Xavier University, and Bethune-Cookman College.
The Prairie View team placed fourth overall in the tennis championship. In the Flight A men’s singles tournament bracket, PV’s own Bvunzawabaya advanced to the semi-finals but lost to HU Seo-Jae Chang in a old fashion grudge match that lasted almost two and a half hours. Freshman sensation Nicolas Bateman won the men’s Flight A singles consolation 6-3, 6-1 by defeating JSU Tendai Kuwaza. In the Flight B men’s consolation bracket PV’s Hector Garcia made it to the semi-finals, but like Bvunzawbaya, he came up a little short. Garcia lost the match to another HU player, Allin Zorilla Ditoiu.
In the men’s doubles Flight A Tournament bracket Andy Narido and Bateman team-up to win their opening match against Pablo Magro and Thabani Sithole from BCC. They lost in the next round against GSU’s Marcus Ashley and Dellon Lorimer. Bvunzawabaya and Chiridza also teamed up for doubles. They won their first match against XU’s Terry Richardson and Matthew Walker. For the doubles Flight B tournament bracket, Michelle Scurry of Lady Panthers teamed up with Garcia of the men’s team. Scurry and Garcia won their first match against Davion Lewis and Terry Powell from BCC. They lost in the second round against XU Vusumzi Kempele and Dmitri Ketchens. Goday and Herrera lost in the second round against Zura Zhvania and Jarrel Williams from FAMU.
The men’s season record for season matches is Bvunzawabaya (16-5), Xavier Goday (9-14), David Herera (13-11), Dudzia Chiridza (12-13), RonHoward McNeil (13-11), Garcia (6-15), Amin Memon (2-3), Brian Jelks (2-0), and Philip Gibson with a record of (1-0). The men’s doubles records are outstanding also. Partners Bvunzawabaya and McNeil had a season record of (1-1), Garcia and Memon are (2-0), Jelks and Gibson are (1-0), Bvunzawabaya and Chiridza are (12-13), Herera and Goday are (13-10), McNeil and Memon are (5-1), and McNeil and Garcia are (7-7). Last year the tennis team made it to the SWAC finals.
Head Coach Cochran said, “We were the only team on campus to get to the finals of the SWAC championship. The tennis team had great success last year ranking in the top three of the SWAC. This year the men’s team has really stepped up and we have added a few more players and taking it up a notch and I think we should have a championship year. We have three new freshmen and just about everybody back. “If we are going to win a championship it’s got to be now.”
Way to go tennis team, good luck next season!