National Champions! No. 3 doubles team of Reche and Vieira win national title

Eastern Florida State College men's tennis players Bernardo Vieira and Tomas Reche teamed up to win a national title at No. 3 doubles Friday afternoon at the NJCAA Division I National Tournament in Plano, Texas.

Reche and Vieira came into the tournament as the No. 2 seed and defeated No. 1 seed Jeff Guerrero and Cash Hanzlik of Tyler Junior College 6-2, 6-4 to claim the first tennis national title in Eastern Florida State College history.

"It was great feeling after the win, we have been playing very good together and it was really good that all of the work that we put in paid off," Reche said. "We played very solid today, we were very active at the net and a big key was our serving. We had hyper-sensitive first serves and finished points at the net. We kept our focus the entire match, every point and just played well. I am really happy about how Bernardo and I played today."

After getting a bye in the first round, the duo picked up two wins on Wednesday, losing just four points in the two matches. Reche and Vieira went on to beat No. 3 seed Carlos Castillo and Andoni Garmendia of Cowley in the semifinals. They won every match in straight sets.

The duo had started playing together at the beginning of the semester and became more and more comfortable together and down the stretch had some big wins together.

"We have been improving week by week and this week we just felt great on the court together," Reche said.

Sophomore Mikar Fisher lost in the championship match at No. 3 singles on Friday morning, 6-1, 6-2. Fisher is the first Titans tennis player to play for a national title in singles and his runner-up finish is the best finish ever for a Titans player.

"He's tough, he came back in the semifinals and got a big win. Today the Tyler player was on fire, but Mikar battled," Eastern Florida State College men's tennis coach Bobby Cashman said. "For him to get to the finals at No. 3 was big. I am happy for him."

The Titans finished fourth overall in the national tournament, the best finish in program history.

"I think we did a really good job, we showed everyone we can compete with anyone in the nation. I look at our team and we are every bit as good as the top three teams in the standings," Cashman said.

Tyler Junior College won the title for the third straight season.