Gardner-Webb Men's Tennis Ranked #10 in the ITA Carolina Region Rankings

TEMPE, Ariz. After recording a top 20 wins during the 2024 spring season, the Gardner-Webb men's tennis team earned the Intercollegiate Tennis Association program's first regional ranking, which was recently announced by the organization.

Gardner-Webb finished the season ranked No. 10 in the Carolina Region by the ITA. The Runnin' Bulldogs went 20-4 last spring en route to the team's first outright Big South Conference Regular Season Championship.

ACC power Wake Forest was the No. 1 team in the Carolina region. The Deamon Deacons also finished No. 6 in the National Poll.

No. 2 Duke trailed Wake Forest in the Carolina region poll, and South Carolina was ranked No. 3. NC State and North Carolina rounded out the top five.

UNC Charlotte, which defeated the visiting Runnin' Bulldogs 5-2 in a close battle last season, was ranked sixth. in the Carolinas region and reached the Top 50 in the National Poll at No. 46.

Clemson took seventh spot, followed by UNC Wilmington at No. 8.

Elon, who defeated the Runnin' Bulldogs 4-3 in a tough game on home court, earned the ninth spot ahead of Gardner-Webb, who rounded out the Carolina Region Top 10 at No. 10.

During their record-breaking spring, the Runnin' Bulldogs opened the season with a record 15 straight game wins before losing at nationally ranked UNC Charlotte.

The Dawgs went undefeated (4-0) in Big South Conference play and captured a share of the conference championship for the second consecutive season.

This was the third time under head coach Mike Griffith that Gardner-Webb has claimed a share of the regular season title, along with the No. 1 seed for the conference tournament.

Last spring, a Gardner-Webb player was selected as Big South Player of the Week six times, while four times the Dawgs earned Freshman of the Week honors.

Five different Runnin' Bulldogs earned All-Conference honors, highlighted by the senior Eduardo Dias (Parana, Brazil) becomes theBig South Men's Tennis Player of the Year.

Griffith was chosenBig South Conference Men's Tennis Coach of the Yearfor the second consecutive season.

Dias in one word this spring – Dominant!

The Parana, Brazil native, who has opted to return for a final season in Boiling Springs, was selected to the Big South All-Conference First-Team for the third year in a row for singles and doubles, while playing for the first won Conference Player of the Year honors in his distinguished career.

Dias was the runner-up for Player of the Year in the previous two seasons.

Dias played all spring at the No. 1 singles spot for the Runnin' Bulldogs and posted a 20-1 record, including 18 straight wins from the start of the season. His three-year overall singles doubles record now stands at 50-13.

Dias was also honored as Big South Conference Player of the Week five times.

In addition to his dominance in singles competition, Dias improved his doubles record to 34-17 when he was selected for FirstTeam All-Conference Double.Sfor the second consecutive spring.

Dias and his senior doubles partner Christiaan Van Wyk were ranked number 32 in the ITA doubles rankings.

Van Wyk (Pretoria, South Africa), the only key player not returning to next year's squad, was also named FirstTeam All-Conference DoubleSfor the second consecutive spring as he finished with a doubles record of 47-26.

Next to Dias andChristiaan Van Wykjunior Numa Lemieux-Monette (Montral, Canada) and freshman Jury Terblanche (Perth, Australia) were mentionedFirst Team All-Conference Doublesfor the Runnin' Bulldogs.

Terblanche was named Freshman of the Week twice and posted a 10-8 dual record.

Join Dias as oneFirst Team All-Conference Singlesselection was junior Alex Lepine (Montreal, Canada), which is aSecond Team All-Conference Singleschoose as a second year.
Playing at No. 2 singles all spring, Lepine posted a 12-8 record in doubles matches and currently has a 39-22 singles record.

Lemieux-Monette was mentioned in theSecond Team All-Conference Singlesfor the Runnin' Bulldogs along withKim Niethammer (Harrenburg, Germany).

For the second year in a row, Niethammer is a Second Team All-Conference Singles selection with an 18-3 record in singles.

Niethammer opened the season with 12 straight wins and was named Big South Conference Player of the Week for the week of February 19.^eup to and including 25^e. The Harrenburg, a native of Germany, has a career mark of 41-7.

Lemieux-Monette, who was also mentioned in theGreat SouthAll-Academic team,rounds out the Dawgs All-Conference selections

Lemieux-Monette, who was named Second-Team All-Conference in doubles Victor Putter in 2023, taking Second-Team All-Conference in singles this season while posting a 16-6 singles record in doubles competition. Lemieux-Monette opened the season with seven straight wins and finished the regular season with six straight wins.

In addition to his excellent play on the field, Lemieux-Monette also performed in the classroom with a 3.84 GPA as a biology major.

Griffith, who is now a three-time winner of the Conference coach of the year (2019, 2023, 2024), completed his 22nd and most successful year at the helm of the Runnin' Bulldog men's tennis program.

“The regional rankings are proof that we had a fantastic season.” said Griffith, who will return seven of his top eight players next spring. “We were disappointed with our last game of the season, but those things happen. Ultimately, we will use that pain to do better next year. With the players we have back and our new signings, we have the team we are looking for can go.” our third straight conference championship.”