PLANO, Texas – Mercer men’s tennis signees Amen Prince Gandonou and Hod’Abalo Isak Padio finished off an unblemished run through the doubles draw of the National Junior College Association of America (NJCAA) National Championships on Friday with a pair of victories, including a title bout that was decided by a grueling third-set tiebreaker.
The Iowa Central Community College tandem, who had already knocked off the nation’s 6th– and 3rd-ranked doubles teams, respectively, heading into Friday, bulldozed their way past Jones College’s 7th-ranked duo of Charlie Brady and Matias Ruiz by 6-4, 4-6, 1-0(7-5) scores in Friday’s semifinal round to advance to the national championship match against top-seeded and top-ranked Reiya Komagata/Bruno Nhavene from Cowley College.
Gandonou and Padio claimed a 6-4 win in the opening set in the finals, but Komagata/Nhavene rebounded with a 7-6 (11-9) win in the second set. Undeterred, the Iowa Central duo toughed out an 11-9 third-set tiebreaker to claim the national crown.