The NCAA News - News and Features

April 28, 1997

Championships preview -- Division II

Lander looks unstoppable -- again

Event: 1997 NCAA Division II Men's Tennis Championship.

Overview: Lander has dominated the championship since joining the NCAA in 1993, winning four consecutive team titles. Things won't get any easier for the Senators' opponents this year. Paced by Claes Persson, Janne Vilhunen, Laio Teixeira and Martin Kahm, Lander posted a 16-0 record through April 14 in its quest to keep its perfect NCAA championship record intact. Persson, the squad's No. 1 singles player and ranked No. 2 in the nation, headlines the Lander quartet, which won 87 of its first 107 singles matches. Persson recorded a 25-7 singles mark, while Vilhunen and Teixeira combined for 46 wins. Teixeira and Kahm formed the squad's top doubles team, winning 14 of 16 matches .... With Lander's experience, teams will be hard-pressed to end the Senators' reign. A slew of teams will try, however, led by West Florida, Lynn, Barry, Bloomsburg, North Florida and UC Davis. Barry, which finished third in 1996, puts its title hopes behind Herbert Bende and Lior Chalbianski, while Lynn looks to Ivan Keskinov and Fabio Massetta to realize its title dreams. West Florida, ranked No. 2, is led by Jens Gerlach, Matt Wallhead and Peter Jorgensen. Gerlach is the nation's No. 3-ranked singles player and joins Wallhead to form one of the nation's top doubles tandems. North Florida, which dropped an 8-1 decision to Lander earlier this year, returns veterans Reggie and Roger Exum. Evan Rosen and Kyle Richards set the pace for Bloomsburg.

Field: Four teams will compete at each of 10 regional tournaments. The 10 regional winners will advance to the national championship, joining six teams (two each from the East and South regions and one each from the Midwest and West regions) that will be selected in advance and will not compete in regionals.

Dates and sites: Regional tournaments will be May 2-4. The championship will be May 8-11 at Springfield, Missouri. Southwest Baptist will serve as championship host.

Information/results: The fax-on-demand telephone number is 770/399-3060 (passcode 1915); request numbers are 1535 for dates and sites, 1536 for bracket/schedule, 5229 for qualifiers, 5230 for first-round results, 5231 for quarterfinals results, 5232 for semifinals results and 5233 for third-place and final match results. Regional and championship results also will be available on the World Wide Web at www.ncaa.org. Championship results will be published in the May 12 (regional tournaments) and May 19 (finals) issues of The NCAA News.