Men's Tennis at NJCAA National Championships in Plano, TX
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The Roadrunners won their second NJCAA National Championship
May 19th on the campus of Collin College in Plano, TX.
The team and coaches pictured here with Art Becker,
President of the NJCAA. More photos on our Facebook
Fan Page at
www.facebook.com/gccathletics
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May 16-20, 2011
Roadrunners Win Second
Consecutive National Championship
May 19, 2011 Plano, TX
The Gloucester County College (N.J.)
Roadrunners men's tennis team captured its second consecutive
NJCAA Division III Men's Tennis Championship today on the campus
of Collin College in Plano, Texas. The Roadrunners won four
individual national titles, which lifted their team total to 27
points to give them a them a five point advantage over runner-up
Brookdale Community College (N.J.) in the final team standings.
GCC scored wins at #3 singles, #4 singles, #5 singles and #3
doubles today in the championship round. The Roadrunners had
already clinched the title on Wednesday and were battling today
for individual championships. This is the second consecutive
national championship for the men's tennis program at
Gloucester. Head coach Brian Rowan was named DIII National Coach
of the Year. Assistant coach Scott Henderson was named the ITA
Region IV Assistant Coach of the Year.
All four of the GCC sophomores, Ryan Airo, Aaron Hartman, Ed
Thompson and Jared Randazzo, earned First-Team NJCAA
All-American status. The four sophomores, known as GCC's Four
Aces, have combined in the last two seasons to dominate Division
III tennis. In dual matches they have combined for a 26-5
record, they have won back to back Region 19 Championships and
now back to back NJCAA Championships to go with a combined 11
All-American Awards.
Jared Randazzo is now a four-time NJCAA All-American – this
season a Second-Team All-American at #6 singles and First-Team
All-American at #3 doubles and in 2010 as a First-Team
All-American at #5 singles and Second-Team All-American at #2
doubles. Hartman is now a three-time Individual National
Champion - this season winning at #4 singles and #3 doubles and
in 2010 winning at #4 singles. Thompson is now a three-time
All-American - this season a First-Team All-American at #5
singles and in 2010 a Second-Team All-American at both #6
singles and #2 doubles. Airo won his first Individual National
Championship this season, his win at #3 singles is the
Roadrunners first at any of the top three flights at the
National Championships. The win at #3 doubles by Randazzo and
Hartman was also the first doubles National Championship for the
men's program.
Freshman #1 singles AJ Moore dropped a
6-1, 6-4 decision in his singles championship match. He will
return next season and look to build on his impressive first
season that included winning the Region 19 Singles Championship.
Read more from NJ.com...Roadrunners Repeat as National Champions.
Read more from NJ.com...Randazzo Ends Career in Historic Way.
The official tournament website
is:
http://www.collin.edu/athletics/national_tourn/index.html
Roadrunners Move to Top of Leaderboard at
Tennis Championships
May 17, 2011 Plano, TX
The Gloucester County College
Men’s Tennis Team made their big move today in Plano and put
themselves within one win of repeating as Division III National
Champions. The Roadrunners sophomore singles players Ryan Airo,
Aaron Hartman, Ed Thompson, and Jared Randazzo (known as the
Four Aces) all received byes on Monday’s first day of play but
came out firing today and scored major team points to help move
GCC from second place into a solid first place in the
tournament. Randazzo got the first points of the day with his
6-2, 6-0 demolition of Onondaga CC’s Mason Padron. Airo and
Hartman quickly followed suit and then Thompson also powered
through his match. At the same time GCC’s freshman #1 singles
player AJ Moore was scoring his second singles win of the
tournament with a win over Mercer CC’s Ben Pinter.
The Roadrunners singles dominance
over the last two seasons has helped them achieve most of their
success. Last year GCC was in the championship round in four
singles flights and this season GCC will be represented in five
of the finals matches on Thursday morning at Collin College.
Freshman #2 singles player Andrew Pfieffer was unable to pull of
his upset bid over the top seed but still scored team points
with his win on Monday.
In the afternoon doubles matches,
GCC’s top doubles team of Moore and Thompson lost a three set
thriller to the #2 seeds from Nassau CC. The Roadrunners led 4-3
in the third but were unable to close out the team from Nassau
and fell 6-4 in the third. The #2 doubles team for GCC of
Pfieffer and Vladislav Koldomasov dropped a straight set match
in their semifinal round. However, the #3 doubles team of
Hartman and Randazzo won their semifinal match over local rivals
Brookdale CC to advance to the championship round on Thursday.
All of the Wednesday matches at
the tournament are consolation round matches so the GCC players
who have advanced in the main draw of the tournament will have
an off day before playing the championship matches Thursday. By
winning six semifinal matches today GCC is now in first place
with 22 points followed by regional rival Brookdale CC with 16
points. Any one win by GCC or loss by Brookdale CC would clinch
GCC at least a share of the championship. The team, of course,
is looking to win the title outright though and would like to
also bring home as many individual national championships as
possible on Thursday.
The official tournament website
is:
http://www.collin.edu/athletics/national_tourn/index.html
DAY 1 RECAP
May 16, 2011 Plano, TX
Gloucester CC Men’s Tennis
Team took its first steps toward a good finish today in the 2011
Junior College Men’s Tennis National Championships. The
Roadrunners won all three of their first round matches at the
beautiful Collin College Tennis Center. The eight team field has
definitely set its sights on knocking off defending champs GCC
but the team responded well today as two freshman were the first
on court.
In the first match of the day GCC
#1 singles AJ Moore (Williamstown HS) worked for a 6-2, 6-2 win
over a game Micheal Fallon from CC Rhode Island. Moore
did not play his best tennis in the win but it is tough for many
freshman in their first matches at the pressure-packed event.
Fellow freshman Andrew Pfeiffer trailed 4-5 in the first set
before running off the next three games to win the first set 7-5
over Onondaga CC’s (NY) Joshua Tayefeh. Pfieffer, a Pitman HS
grad, worked hard to pull out the second set 6-4 and advance
deeper into the main draw of the tournament. The last match of
the day for GCC featured Moore and doubles partner Ed Thompson
(Overbrook HS) against the top doubles team from Eastfield CC
(TX). The Roadrunners powered through a 6-1, 6-2 win to put a
point of emphasis on the day.
The second day of the tournament
will feature all the tournaments’ top players once again and
will set the stage for the top teams to make their runs toward
the top overall positions in the tournament. The official
tournament website is:
http://www.collin.edu/athletics/national_tourn/index.html
Tournament Notes: At the National
Championship Banquet, Assistant Coach Scott Henderson was
honored as the Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) Junior
College Assistant Coach of the Year for Region IV. The Junior
College ITA Region IV includes all of the schools along the East
Coast.
TOURNAMENT PREVIEW: From NJ.com
Roadrunners Set to Defend Championship
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