SURPRISE, Ariz. – In the semifinal round of the NCAA Division II National Tournament, No. 4 (ITA Top-50) Flagler College upset No. 1 University of West Florida, 4-2, this afternoon at the Surprise Tennis and Raquet Club.
This is the second time in three years Flagler has advanced to the NCAA Championship and third time since being in the Division II era they have defeated the No. 1 ranked team in the nation. Tomorrow the Saints will take on No. 2 and top seeded Barry University at 12 PM for Flagler’s first NCAA Championship.
Doubles was a shootout across the first two courts, with the Saints emerging victorious on court three. Aniss Raifq and Oliver Hradilek defeated Vicente Couto and Rafael Sabio 6-2 to give the Saints their only doubles win. Despite the loss, court one’s No. 30 Simon Malis and Ilian Borlee played the No. 1 doubles team in the nation, Diego Duran and Sebastian Rondon to a tight 7-6(7-4) match. Aly El Rafie and Filip Kana’s loss to Mark Neyelov and Gonalo Quintela came down to a 7-5 match.
Singles saw two career upsets to seal the match. No. 14 Borlee earned his first win of the tournament after his previous two went unfinished. In his 6-3 and 6-0 match, Borlee defeated Couto. On court one, No. 17 Malis set a career and program milestone as the first Saint to defeat the No. 1 individually ranked singles player in Division II. Now boasting a 3-1 record on court one, Malis upset Sebastian Rondon 6-1 and 6-4. Hradilek gave Flagler it’s first lead of the day after defeating Neyelov 7-5 and 6-0. To send the Saints marching, No. 35 Rafiq earned his highest ranked win of his career as he defeated No. 3 Duran, 3-6, 6-2 and 6-3. Rafiq is 3-1 against Top-10 opponents and is a five match win streak.
