‘Good tournament’ for Bain and Ramirez despite final defeat

By BRENT STUBBS

Senior Sports Reporter

bstubbs@tribunemedia.net

BAHAMIAN freshman Jacobi Bain and his Xavier University of Louisiana senior teammate Juan Ramirez gave it their best shot, only to fall short in the final of the men’s doubles at the Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) Cup Championships in Rome, Georgia on Saturday.

“The tournament was good,” Bain told The Tribune. “It was a pretty good experience. We lost to the number one team in the country. Although we lost, it was still a pretty good tournament for us.”

On their way to the final, Bain and Ramirez out-duelled the second-seeded team of Daniel Czepieleski and Federico Bonacia of Georgia Gwinnett in a marathon 6-2, 4-6, 1-0 (10-2) decision on Friday.

“In our semi-final match, my partner hyper extended his knee, so we were able to get through that match,” Bain said. “In the final, we were doing pretty well. We just lost a couple of big points that made the difference.”

In just his first year on the collegiate scene, the 18-year-old Bain said there were so many positive aspects that he will take away from playing in the tournament, which he hopes will inspire him as he prepares for the future.

“I just have to be a little more active in putting away more volleys at the net,” Bain said. “We had a couple of opportunities to put away more balls at the net, which ended up in us losing a couple of big games or a couple of big points.”

Bain and Ramirez had qualified for the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) at-large spot in the tournament at the Rome Tennis Center at Berry College. Formerly known as the Small College Nationals, the ITA Cup, established in 1986, is the only singles and doubles national championship event for the Division II and NAIA levels.

“We took out the number two seeds, so we were playing some great doubles,” Bain said.

That concludes their tournaments for this year, but Bain said it will certainly be the impetus for him as he moves onto the completion of his freshman year next year.

“It was a great way to start my freshman year,” he said. “I had three tournaments this year, was a co-champion in singles and won doubles (at the HBCU National Championships) in September, went to the (NAIA Gulf ITA) regionals (at the beginning of October) and lost in the finals in doubles and then got to the nationals and lost in doubles, so it’s a good way to start my year.”

As for the Gold Rush team, Bain said he couldn’t ask for a better group of players, coached by Alan Green.

“I think we have a great team going into next year, so we should do pretty well,” summed up Bain, a former player at Albany Tennis Academy and a student of Windsor School in the Bahamas.