" The whole team gave their best mentallyan~ physically. " fi uillermo Her1t41f,~tZ SCOREBOARD Hendrix 8-0 Hendrix 9·0 LeMoyne forfeit OCU 0-7 Henderson 8-1 SBU 6-3 OBU 2-6 Auburn-Mont. 0-7 Texas-Tyler 04 John Brown 7-0 Delta State 7-0 leMoyne 9-0 Hendrix 6-1 UNA 0-7 Chr.Brothers 6-1 Okla. Chr. College 0-7 OBU 6·1 Howard Payne 7-0 Freed 0-7 Henderson 7-0 North Alabama 2-7 Lyon 7-0 Hendrix 7·0 TENNIS: With a tough schedul e during the regular season, the Bisons earned a trip to the Nat iona l Associat ion o f Interco ll egiate Ath letics nationa l tournament , making it the ir 16th consecutive year to p lay at tha t level. Their performance the re left them tied for 10th in the NAlA and earning a final ranking of 14th in the natio n. After surviving an injuryp lagued season, the Bisons p layed we ll in the natio na l tournament. "I was extrelnely proud of the way our team hung in there throughout the season , especia lly with a ll of the injuries. Then, to finish the way we did gave our team what it deserved," Coach David Elliott sa id. Junior Gu ille rmo Hernandez, second-seeded player for the Bisons, suffered a w rist injury The team ra ll ied back to receive an invitation to the Nationals. "We are a close team, and evetyone contributes, w hi ch shows w hy we Bisons excel on court and in the classroom had the good season that we had,".SeniorArturo Rodriguez sa id. Rodrigu ez was seeded number 1 for the Bisons and was the o nly player to receive All -America honors. He also fin ished 26th in NAlA s ingles and tea llle d with Hernandez to fini s h 10th in doubles. "Arturo had a great season and led us through some tough [ in1es. Gu ille rmo's inju ry affected t!:e season, but we worked around his injury and Arturo picked up the slack," Elliott said . "I fee l very good about our season. We were very supportive o f one another, especia ll y when Guillermo went down with his injury. His injury hurt our doubl es team, but we stepped up in th e nat ional tournament. We 've been playing together for three years, and we know each o ther's game very well," Rodriguez said. Hernandez agreed with Rodriguez. "The w ho le team gave their best me ntall y and physica ll y," Hernandez said. "This made us stronger." Sophomore Andrew Garner said he fe lt that the team's fri endship improved the ir p laying abilities. "We enjoy hanging out as a team and that makes us play be tter toge ther," Garner sa id . The Bisons' hard work was a lso seen off the tennis courts as they ma inta ined a high academic standard. ","'{lith a tough schedule and a lot of practice , the p layers did we ll in the classrooms," Elliott said. Senior Nathaniel Israel led the Bisons with a 4.0 g rade point average. The Bisons tougher schedule in the NCAA and the success they had this season prepared the Bisons to make the move into Division II and the Lone Star Conference. "Division II tennis is not much d ifferent from the NAIA, but we will be prepared w he n we step into Division II ," Elliott said. - Heath Dawson Men's Te,mis. First Row: Assistant Coach Raymond Kelly. Guillermo Hernandez. Altura Rodriguez, Darren Wade, Daniel Velasco. Second Row: Geo/Vickers. Natbaniellsrael, Pablo Ortega, Andrew Garnel~Juan Carlos Hernandez, Coach DaVid £lIioll . Photo by jei/Montgomery. Sports 209 ffM
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