MOBILE, Ala. – A historic season for Southeastern University Men's Tennis reached new heights on Thursday. The Fire continued their postseason surge with a commanding 4-1 victory over No. 13 University of the Cumberlands (Ky.), securing a spot in the NAIA National Semifinal for the first time in program history.
The Fire wasted no time setting the tone, sweeping both completed doubles matches. Gonzalo Fernandez and Javier Gallego cruised to a 6-1 victory at the No. 2 spot, while Piero Fernandez and Diego Menendez followed with a 6-4 win at No. 1 doubles to give SEU the early 1-0 team lead.
Momentum carried into singles play, where the Fernandez duo again came through. No. 50-ranked Piero Fernandez secured a straight-set win over Liam Savio at No. 1 singles (6-3, 6-3), and Gonzalo Fernandez followed with a 6-2, 6-3 win over Darius Kuster at No. 6 to extend the lead to 3-0.
Cumberlands earned its lone point at No. 5 singles, where Pierluigi Cruypennick defeated SEU's Mark Griffin (6-2, 6-3). But Menendez, ranked No. 6 in the NAIA, delivered the clincher. After dropping the opening set to Juandri Alcon, Menendez roared back to take the next two (6-2, 6-1), sending the Fire into uncharted territory—the NAIA National Semifinal.
Two singles matches went unfinished. Gallego was locked in a tight third set with Gabriele Solda at No. 4 singles (6-1, 4-6, 4-4), while at No. 3, Cumberlands' Luis Marcos led Alejandro Orihuela 4-2 in the third set (3-6, 6-3, 4-2) when play was stopped.
In the third doubles match, Griffin and Orihuela held a narrow 5-4 edge when their match was halted.
With the win, SEU improved to 18-2 and earned a Friday semifinal match-up against No. 1-ranked Georgia Gwinnett, the nine-time defending national champions. The Grizzlies have defeated the Fire in their only two previous meetings: 4-0 in February 2022 and 4-0 again in March 2023. Southeastern hopes the third time is the charm as they aim to take the next step in their record-setting season.
First serve is scheduled for 2 p.m. ET. In the other semifinal, Keiser University will meet Tennessee Wesleyan.
