BRUNSWICK, Ga. – The Fire kicked off their postseason with a familiar outcome. For the 11th time this season, Southeastern University surrendered just one match in doubles before blanking their opponent in singles play. SEU defeated Warner University 4-0 to advance to the Sun Conference Men's Tennis Semifinals.
Diego Menendez led the charge with two key victories, but it was Javier Gallego who sealed the deal for Southeastern, delivering the clinching point with a dominant 6-0, 6-2 win over Warner's Niklas Huth at No. 3 singles.
In doubles, Mark Griffin and Leonardo Chiari gave SEU the edge with a 6-4 win at the No. 3 spot over Carlos Quinones and Enzo Barauna. That secured the team point, following a 6-3 win at No. 1 doubles by Menendez and Piero Fernandez over Huth and Nikhil Mital.
The Fire's sweep of Warner marks the second shutout of the Royals this season, repeating their 4-0 result from February 26. It also marks SEU's 11th shutout win in their 15 victories this season.
In singles, Gonzalo Fernandez struck first, rolling to a 6-0, 6-1 win at No. 6. Menendez followed with a clean 6-0, 6-0 sweep over Luis Rodriguez at No. 2, before Gallego closed the match.
Warner's lone win came at No. 2 doubles, where Rodriguez and Arthur Fernandes edged Gallego and Gonzalo Fernandez, 6-4.
Several matches went unfinished:
- At No. 1 singles, Piero Fernandez dropped the first set 6-3 to Quinones but led 4-3 in the second when play was stopped.
- Chiari was in control against Julio Infante at No. 4, winning the first set 6-3 and leading 5-1 in the second.
- At No. 5 singles, Nikhil Mital and Griffin were just underway when the match was halted.
With the victory, SEU (15-1) returns to the Sun Conference semifinals and looks to avenge its only loss of the season—a narrow 4-3 defeat to No. 9 SCAD-Savannah in the regular-season finale. The rematch is scheduled for Thursday at 2:30 p.m..
