The Colonels men’s tennis team will travel to Arlington, Texas, to participate in the Southland Conference tennis tournament for the first time in school history, starting today.With an overall record of 4-11 and conference mark of 2-5, the team will face Texas-San Antonio in the first round of matches today. This is the first time that a Nicholls tennis team has been in a post-season tournament since 1980, four years before the sport was dropped from the athletics roster.
Head Coach Dominic Modise believes that getting to the tournament has brought up the level of confidence in his team. “Our confidence has risen tremendously over the course of this season,” Modise said. “You can see it with the players and how well they are doing right now.”
Along with the increase in the level of intensity with the players, Modise has also seen an increase in interest from the community. “For the community to see that we’re making progress in building our tennis program is very important,” Modise said. “Not only the community, but the University has been so great to us in showing support, and we can’t thank them enough for that.”
It didn’t take long for the men’s team to give Modise his first win as head coach; in the third match of the season, the team had a convincing 6-1 win over St. Louis, the first win for the program in 21 years.
In their first meeting, Texas-San Antonio defeated the Colonels 2-5 in Nicholls’ first district contest of the season. Although the Roadrunners defeated the Colonels already, Modise does not believe their first-round opponents have the upper hand.
“I think we played well enough to win, but we just didn’t have the same fire we do now,” he said. “I think this time we have the talent and drive to beat them.”
Nicholls gained its first district win the next match with a 5-2 victory over Texas Pan-American. It was another historic win for the team, this time earning the first Southland Conference win for the Colonels.
The team went on to defeat Lamar 4-3, solidifying the conference tournament berth it had already gained from the conference win against Texas-Pan Am, but the highlight of the 2006 season up until that point was when the team almost defeated Big Ten power Iowa.
In a close match, the Hawkeyes escaped with a 4-3 victory, but Modise saw that match as a stepping-stone for better things to come. “When you play that well with those teams, it gives your players a guide for how to play all the time,” he said. “The confidence you gain from those experiences is priceless.”
Only playing with five players, one fewer player than the normal allotted team of six, Modise plans on keeping his players loose going into the tournament so his players won’t feel any added pressure to succeed.
“Our goal is to beat Texas-San Antonio, and I’ve been trying to have fun with the guys and keep them relaxed,” he said. “If we go with the mentality of playing our style of tennis, we can easily be one of the top four teams in the conference.
