Wingate, N.C.----The Wingate University men’s tennis team hopes to build on a successful 2011 season with more achievements in 2012. The Bulldogs won the South Atlantic Conference regular season title last year, compiling a 17-4 overall record and a 9-0 SAC slate. Bulldog head coach Michael Cabana will count on three seniors to guide an otherwise young team.
 
Seniors Matthew Lichtenstein (Darnestown, Md.), Flavio Rathsam (Sao Paulo, Brazil) and Drew Owen (Kitchener, Ontario) were named to the pre-season All-SAC first team in January. Lichtenstein, Rathsam and Owen represented Wingate on the first team All-SAC squad in 2011. The defending SAC regular season champion Bulldogs were picked to finish first in the pre-season coaches' poll.
 
“We are fortunate to have great senior leadership from Matt, Flavio and Drew,” Cabana says. “This is a huge blessing, considering the fact we have four freshmen on our roster. Our seniors are helping me bring our freshmen along.”
 
This year, Lichtenstein is ranked number 46 in the current Campbell/ITA NCAA Division II national singles rankings. The number 14 player in the Southeast Region singles top 20, Lichtenstein was 15-6 overall at the number one singles position last year. He was 6-3 in SAC contests.
 
Rathsam was 17-4 overall in singles last year, playing at the number three position. His 17 dual-match victories topped the Bulldog charts. In SAC contests, he was 7-2 overall. For his singles career, he is 46-6 overall and 22-2 in the SAC. Rathsam won 22 consecutive SAC matches before dropping the final two of the 2011 campaign.
 
Owen played number two singles and number one doubles for the Bulldogs last year. In singles, he was 14-6 overall and 7-2 in the SAC. For his career, Owen is 35-15 overall and 18-5 in the SAC. With Rathsam, Owen provided the Bulldogs with a solid number one doubles team. The pair were 10-10 overall last year, with a 4-5 ledger in SAC play.
 
Cabana’s line-up card for Wingate’s 2012 opener against Augusta State University (Wednesday, Feb. 1) will feature Lichtenstein, Rathsam and Owen in the top three positions. Freshmen Neal Towlson (Warwick, Bermuda) and Diego Martinez (Queretaro, Mexico) will look to contribute from the four and five singles spots, while sophomore Ryan Forbes (Charlotte, N.C.) will bring his game to the number six position. Freshmen Peter Martin (Barnsley, England) and Josh Eardley (Newcastle, Staffordshire, England) will give the Bulldogs much depth.
 
In doubles, Rathsam and Forbes will man the number one spot. Lichtenstein and Martinez will play number two, while Owen and Towlson will occupy the number three position. Cabana will try different doubles combinations in the early season as he searches for the best fit.
 
Wingate’s schedule is one of the toughest in the Southeast Region. In addition to the always-competitive SAC slate, the Bulldogs will face four teams ranked in the pre-season NCAA Division II top 25: Augusta State (13), Columbus State (nine), Georgia College (15) and Concordia (N.Y., four). Defending Food Lion SAC tournament champion Anderson is receiving votes for the poll. The AU Trojans edged Wingate for the 2011 tournament crown.
 
Cabana knows Wingate has work to do. “With success, there are things you must do to continue success,” Cabana says “We have talked with our teams regarding their attitudes. We must get the right attitude and the right mindset if we are going to do well this year.”
 
Wingate opens the 2012 spring season with three matches in five days (Augusta State, Davidson and North Georgia. “During our pre-season workouts, we have worked on our fitness,” Cabana says. “We want to be match-ready, both physically and mentally. We open with three matches in five days. We’ll work out the kinks after these three matches.”
 
“Our team expectations are always high,” Cabana says. “We want to get better every day. Everyone has bought into our philosophy. We can’t have a let-down this year. We enter practice every day realizing this fact.”
           
WINGATE UNIVERSITY
 
Founded in 1896, Wingate University is a comprehensive university with more than 2,500 students on three campuses in Wingate, Matthews and Hendersonville, N.C. The university offers 34 undergraduate majors, 37 minors and career concentrations, numerous pre-professional programs, graduate degrees in business, accounting, physician assistant studies and sports administration and doctorates in pharmacy and education.
 
Wingate students gain the tools and support they need to excel in academics and apply that learning toward an extraordinary career and life. The campus community offers in-class learning, out-of-class experiences, strong mentors, a competitive yet caring environment and rewarding community service opportunities for a complete educational experience.
 
Bulldog student-athletes compete in 19 NCAA Division II sports. Wingate University has won the South Atlantic Conference Echols Athletic Excellence Award for the past five years.
 
Wingate University is ranked number three among NCAA Division II Academic All-America® producing schools in the 2000’s with 42 honorees during this millennium. Only Pittsburg State (Kan.) University and Truman State (Mo.) University have produced more Academic All-America® honorees during this time period. Wingate’s 51 Academic All-America® honorees (lifetime) is tops among all SAC schools.