By: Roni Portzen
MTN Sports Reporter
MURFREESBORO, Tenn.- After an amazing weekend at the 74th Annual Blue and Gray Championship, MTSU Men’s Tennis team came home with wins over Tulane who is now ranked #54, #28 Arizona, and Princeton who is currently ranked #34. This was the first time in history that our Blue Raider’s brought home the Blue Gray National Tennis Classic Championship.
Our Blue Raider’s were previously ranked No. 30 in the ITA Division I Men’s National Team Rankings that came out on February 23rd, but we have seen a huge jump in their rankings after beating Tulane (Previous No. 48), Arizona (Previous No. 19), and Princeton (Previous No. 29) this past week. MTSU Men’s Tennis is now ranked No. 15 in this nation, which is the highest ranking we have had in this century. We were previously ranked No. 2 in the Dale Short era in the 1990’s.
Stephan Holis was named the Blue Gray Championship MVP after going 5-0 over the weekend and picking up his first ranked win over Arizona’s # 71 Colton Smith winning straight-sets 6-0, 6-3. He was also named C-USA Athlete of the Week March 2nd.
Our Blue Raider’s are also ranked #23 in the Tennis Channel/ USTA College Tennis Top 25. The Men’s Tennis Team still has the doubles pair Oskar Brostrom Poulsen and Francisco Rocha ranking No. 23. As well as singles competitors Stijn Slump who is ranked No. 80 in the Singles Ranking while Francisco Rocha sits at the No. 115 spot.
Currently the schools holding the top 14 spots above the Blue Raiders are: Texas Christian University, University of Tennessee Knoxville, Ohio State University, Baylor University, University of Florida, University of South Carolina, Wake Forest University, Stanford University, University of Kentucky, University of Southern California, Harvard University, Northwestern University, University of Texas Austin, and University of Mississippi.