By Roscoe Nance
With 15 MEAC championships to its credit – including nine in the last 11 years – the South Carolina State men’s tennis team is one of the crown jewels of the Bulldogs’ athletic program.
Championship No. 15, which came on April 28 and earned the Bulldogs an automatic berth in the NCAA National Championships, where their opening-round opponent on May 12 will be host Florida, was one of its more challenging ones. They had to overcome early-season injuries to their Nos. 1 and 2 players and contend with the uncertainty surrounding the future of the women’s program, among other things.
But overcome they did.
“It’s been a challenge. It hasn’t been easy,’’ head coach Hardeep Judge said, reflecting on the run of sustained success the Bulldogs have enjoyed during his 17-year tenure. “We always set a goal to get to the (conference) championship and to win a championship. Some years it’s more work than others, but our goal always is to bring the title back.’’
The Bulldogs’ challenges began well before the season started. South Carolina State’s administration last summer decided to temporarily suspend the women’s tennis program in a move aimed at easing the school’s financial woes. The program was reinstated in December. The men’s program was never in danger, but the move did have a residual effect on recruiting.
“Other programs are going to use that against you,’’ Judge said. “’They did that to the women’s program; the men’s program is going to be next.’’’ We lost some players we thought we probably would have gotten.’’
A bigger challenge, however, was the injury bug that hit the Bulldogs. Vladyslav Yanchenko, a senior from Ukraine and their No. 1 singles player, tore his meniscus during the first week of the season and didn’t return until the MEAC Championship; No. 2 singles player Jakub Vitek of the Czech Republic, another senior, suffered a sprained ankle and missed the first six weeks of the season.
Still, the Bulldogs never wavered, and they kept their eyes on the prize.
“When our players were out, we never got nervous,’’ Judge said. “We knew we had to get to work. That was the attitude we had this year. We had to get to work. Everybody was coming at us, and we were after some teams as well. We had to get to work. We definitely did that, and it paid off in the long run.’’
The Bulldogs cruised to a 4-0 conference record, and the No. 1 seed in the Southern Division, and were 10-5 overall. Surprisingly, it was a trio of freshmen – Juan Ramirez, Marcelo Rodriguez and Aleksa Daskalovic – who shouldered much of the heavy lifting while Yanchenko and Vitek were sidelined.
Rodriguez led all MEAC freshmen with an 8-3 record in singles, and Rodriguez and Daskolovic had the best record in the conference among doubles teams with a 5-0 mark. They were No. 2 in total wins by No. 2 doubles teams. Ramirez teamed with Vitek for an 8-4 record playing at No. 1 doubles. The eight victories were the most in the conference by a No. 1 doubles team.
Ramirez made the MEAC All-Tournament team at No. 4 singles; the doubles teams of Ramirez-Vitek and Rodriguez-Daskolovic were named to the All-Tournament team at Nos. 1 and 2, respectively.
“The younger players stepped up,’’ Judge said. “They really pulled it out.’’
Perhaps the most daunting challenge for Judge has been finding adequate funding for his team, which he says has smallest budget in the conference, and perhaps the nation, at under $100,000 for scholarships, travel and equipment. Most MEAC schools’ budgets, according to Judge, are between $250,000 and $300,000. The larger Division I men’s programs have budgets of $1 million or more.
In addition to doubling as coach of the women’s team and not having an assistant for either squad, he moonlights as a fundraiser for both programs.
In that role, Judge raises funds for scholarships, equipment and travel. He estimates having raised a half million dollars over the past five years.
“When you’re one person and you have to coach both teams and you have to fundraise, it wears on you,’’ Judge said. “You get old pretty quick.’’
The financial challenges haven’t dimmed Judge’s vision of the Bulldogs being competitive with the top programs in the country and playing at a national championship level.
“My goal is not just to win conference championships,’’ he said. “My goal is to take this program to another level. If our administration is on board with that, that’s great. That’s what I want. I want that for our tennis players. If they’re not, they’re not only doing the school a disservice, it does the program a disservice and it does me a disservice. My goal is to be somewhere where the school wants the program to win a national championship or can compete at that level. If we can do that here, that’s great. It would mean a lot to our school.’’
Judge says he has had some good offers to leave South Carolina State. But after having beaten Charleston Southern and Coastal Carolina this season, and playing reasonably well against the University of South Carolina, which was ranked as high as No. 26 during the season and is making its 24th NCAA Tournament appearance, he is optimistic that the Bulldogs are trending in the right direction.
“We’re close,’’ he said, adding that it would be difficult to leave South Carolina State after all the years he has been there and that he doesn’t know if he would stay in coaching if he were to leave. “We’re beating teams that have five times the resources we have. When you go beat a Charleston Southern, that has a great facility and a great campus and a well-funded program and you beat Coastal Carolina, both of which have won conference championships... When you beat those types of schools, and then played Carolina (strong), and. having the challenges that we have, it bodes well for us. If we can get everybody on board, we can do some really special things, not that we haven’t done some special things. My goal personally is to do even greater things. We definitely think we can do that.
“It’s going to take our program being funded like a championship program. When you’re funded like a championship program, you can upgrade the facility and hire an assistant. No one in the country is running both programs without help.’’
Florida is the immediate challenge for Judge and the Bulldogs. The Gators are in the NCAA Tournament for the 28th consecutive year, and the sixth straight year in head coach Bryan Shelton’s six-year tenure.
Florida is 16-9, with 21 of its 25 having been against teams selected for NCAA field. The Gators were 12-9 in those matches. The Gators without a doubt are a most formidable opponent for South Carolina State, but Judge is unfazed by the match-up.
“We’re actually pretty excited,’’ Judge said. “This is the highest seed we’ve received so far. Usually we’re playing somebody No. 1, No. 2, No 3 in our region. They were the highest team we could play. That bodes well from our standpoint. I think the committee is starting to respect our program. We could have played Wake Forest. They’re No. 1 and pretty close regionally to us. We could have played UNC Chapel Hill, who’s No. 6. We could have played Florida State (No. 12).’’
Beyond the seeding, Judge says Florida is a more favorable match-up for the Bulldogs based on regular season results. The Gators lost to South Carolina 4-3 in an SEC match. The Bulldogs bowed to the Gamecocks 4-1 while Yanchenko and Vitek were sidelined with injuries, winning their only point in doubles.
“I think we match up as well with Florida as we can with anybody,’’ Judge said.