Everyone watching the finals of the NAIA Championships at the Mobile Tennis Center in Alabama felt a
certain sense of deja vu as both the men and women had Auburn-Montgomery vs. Fresno Pacific.  Though the end result was the same in both, the matches were certainly not the same.

It was the 57TH Annual tournament for the men and Auburn-Montgomery celebrated by winning its third straight championship, for a total of five of the last seven.  But there was awhile when it looked like it almost wasn't going to happen.

The Senators jumped out to an early 4-1 lead in the match, but the Fresno Pacific Sunbirds were
not dropping that easy. Fresno Pacific's Fabio Silva faced Auburn-Montgomery's Victor Sanaki Papi at No. 3 singles in a marathon match that ended with the Sunbird taking it in two tiebreakers.  The team score was 4-2 and then Fresno's Mazime Adam took out Tim Mudrick at No. 5 singles to cut the lead 4-3.  It was down to the No. 4 and No. 6 matches left.  While Victor Medina claimed the opening set in the No. 6 singles match for the Fresno Pacific, AUM's Javier Redondo won his match over Marco Foelz to clinch the title for Auburn Montgomery.

For the women, it was the 28th Annual event and the Auburn-Montgomery Lady Senators captured the 2008 NAIA Women's Championship for their fifth straight title.  As it had been in the last three, it was Fresno Pacific who again faced the Lady Senators to no avail.

Unlike the men's match, the Auburn-Montgomery women held their lead after a tough doubles, where the two split matches before the No. 1 doubles match between AUM's Delia Sescioreanu-Delea/Tereza Veverkova and Fresno Pacific's Anna Karavayeva/Maria Klokotzky -- which was in a 5-5 tie when the first two finished -- went to Auburn-Montgomery after three straight game wins.  From there, they did not give up a singles match to the Sunbirds before taking the trophy at 5-1.

Both Auburn-Montgomery teams celebrated an incredible season in addition to the Championship wins.  The Lady Senators had a clean sweep 0f 2007-08 and the men only had one loss the whole season.

Men's Finals
Auburn-Montgomery 5, Fresno Pacific 3
Daniel Plasa (AM) defeated Matt Carroll (FP), 6-3,6-3
Alberto Romea (AM) defeated Vicente Joli (FP), 6-4,6-1
Fabio Silva (FP) defeated Victor Sanaki Papi (AM), 7-6(5),7-6(5)
Javier Redondo (AM) defeated Marco Foelz (FP), 6-4,6-3
Mazime Adam (FP) defeated Tim Mudrick (AM), 6-0,6-2
Nickola Mickovic (AM) vs. Victor Medina (FP), Did Not Finish
Javier Redondo/Alberto Romea (AM) defeated Matt Carroll/Vicente Joli (FP), 8-6
Victor Sanaki Papi/Nickola Mickovic (AM) defeated Marco Foelz/Victor Medina (FP), 8-5
Fabio Silva/Mazime Adam (FP) defeated Tim Mudrick/Daniel Plasa (AM), 9-8(5)

Women's Finals
Auburn-Montgomery 5, Fresno Pacific 1
Natalie Sienkob (AM) vs. Maria Klokotzky (FP), Did Not Finish
Dominika Zuzulova (AM) defeated Amandine Ferot (FP), 6-3,6-3
Khady Berthe (AM) vs. Yulia Blinovskaya (FP), Did Not Finish
Delia Sescioreanu-Delea/Tereza Veverkova (AM) defeated Anna Karavayeva/Maria Klokotzky (FP), 8-6
Katia Sabate/Amandine Ferot (FP) defeated Nadia Lysak/Dominika Zuzulova (AM), 8-4
Khady Berthe/Natalie Sienkob (AM) defeated Angelina Minova/Yulia Blinovskaya (FP), 8-4

Visit NAIA.org for full results from the 2008 NAIA Championships

Marcia Frost can be reached at Marcia@CollegeAndJuniorTennis.com