By Dave Hunter (dhunter)

Hall of Fame coach has averaged 22 wins per season since 1981.....

            Morehead, Ky., Mar. 11 – When Vincennes University’s spring tennis season began last month if wasn’t a matter of if, but when veteran coach Ron Albers would get his 600th career win.

            Albers notched No. 600 in a big way Tuesday, beating NCAA Division I Morehead State, a member of the Ohio Valley Conference, 4-3, and then grinding out another 4-3 win over NAIA Georgetown, Ky., College.

            Morehead State is coached by former VU assistant Kevin Fulton.

            “I don’t whether it was fate or blind luck to end up beating Kevin, one of my best friends for number 600,” Albers said. “I was the best man at his wedding. It was a weird feeling, but I couldn’t be happier than to do it with this group of kids.”

            Albers revived the dormant VU tennis program in 1981 and has averaged 22 wins per season since then (601-144) including 24 straight trips to the NJCAA finals.

            “The effort from the guys to win that match was special,” he said.  “They’re competitors and meet every challenge presented to them. It culminated all the years of the other teams to get this effort.”

            The matches were a ten-hour marathon that started at 10 a.m. The Morehead State match was played indoors and took six hours while the Georgetown match played the singles outdoors, but was forced inside due to cold weather.

            Morehead captured the doubles point to start the day, but the Blazers won at No. 1, 2 and 3 singles to take a 3-1 lead.

            “The doubles is only one point,” Albers said. “But, it’s really so much more than that. It’s the momentum you get because all you have to do is split the singles.”

            Morehead took the fourth and fifth singles to leave the outcome on the racquet of sophomore Chuck Hodge who beat Lovell Medcalf, 6-4, 6-2, to deliver Albers 600th win.

            “Chuck played the best match I’ve seen him played in two years,” Albers said. “Medcalf is an extremely talented player and played a phenomenal match.”

            “He was up a break early in the first set and made it stand up. He started the second set strong and played as well as he could against a very good player.”

            Another huge factor in the win was sophomore Jaime Esteban’s, 3-6, 6-3, 6-3 over Dusan Milovanovic.

            “Dusan played outstanding the first set with a big serve and big forehand,” Albers said. “I told Jaime he had to keep him on the court. It was nearly a 3-hour match. He showed the leadership of a sophomore.”

            VU had a 15-minute break before moving outside to face Georgetown.

            Sophomore David Jackson who kept his unbeaten record singles record intact with a 7-5, 6-3 win over Greg Johnstone of Morehead State, was dropped down to third singles against Georgetown by Albers after injuring his hand late in the match.

            “The trainer taped it on changeovers, but it was really painful at the start of the second match,” Albers said. “I dropped him down to three where I thought he’d compete.”

            Jackson lost, 6-1, 6-4 to Eugenio Aspillaga creating a 3-all tie as the doubles matches were moved indoors

            “It was a huge win over Morehead and we didn’t want to lose to Georgetown in the second match,” Albers said. “That was how it was scheduled and we were glad to play. I told them to give it all they had in doubles."

            Sophomores Binky Nikou and Hodge defeated brothers Joe and John Hoard, 8-1 at No. 3 before Jackson and freshman Chris King insured the victory with 9-7 comeback win over Matias Carcamo and Eugenio Escalante at second doubles.

            He was especially proud of  Nikou and freshmen Jimmy Dunseith and Tony Kanavos for singles wins at the bottom of the lineup.

            “Binky, Jimmy and Tony stepped up big in the singles to get great wins,” he said. “The outcome hinged on their performance. We’ve been strong at the start at the start of the match all season, but Georgetown was fresh and we were spent from the first match.”

            “These were bigger than the wins we had last week in Orlando,” Albers said. “It wasn’t only just my 600th win, but the quality of play against Morehead and Georgetown was outstanding.”

            The Trailblazers (10-2) have won nine straight matches and are idle until traveling to Oakland City University on Mar. 19.

Vincennes 4, Morehead State 3
Singles
No. 1 – David Jackson (V) def. Greg Johnstone, 7-5, 6-3
No. 2 – Jaime Esteban (V) def. Dusan Milovanovic, 3-6, 6-3, 6-3
No. 3 – Chris King (V) def. Doug Song, 6-3, 6-3
No. 4 – Bradley Brian (MS) def. Binky Nikou, 6-4, 6-4
No. 5 – Charles Williams (MS) def. Jimmy Dunseith, 4-6, 6-1, 7-6(4)
No. 6 – Chuck Hodge (V) def. Lovell Medcalf, 6-4, 6-2
Order of finish: 1, 3, 2, 4, 6, 5
Doubles
No. 1 – Jackson-King (V) def. Johnstone-Brian, 8-3
No. 2 -  Milovanovic-Williams (MS) def. Nikou-Tony Kanavos, 9-8(8)
No. 3 – Song-Medcalf (MS) def. Esteban-Hodge, 8-5
Order of finish: 1, 3, 2