PLANO — The Tyler Junior College tennis team took a big hit in its quest for a second straight national championship.
No. 1 seed Mate Cutura in Flight 1 singles was upset in the NJCAA Men’s National Tennis Tournament, which is being hosted by Collin College.
Cutura, a sophomore from Posusje, Bosnia Herzegovina, was ousted in the Round of 16 by unseeded Harry Busby of Cowley College of Kansas, 7-5, 7-6 (3).
The Apaches did win their other five singles matches. All doubles matches were pushed back to today after rain fell in the Metroplex.
In the team standings, Cowley leads with 21 points, followed by Vincennes (Ind.) (20), Collin of Texas (19.5), Laredo of Texas (19), ASA of New York (19), Abraham Baldwin of Georgia (18) and Mesa of Arizona (18).
TJC is tied for ninth with Johnson County (Kansas) with 15.5 points each. Seminole (Okla.) is eighth with 17 points. Jacksonville College of Texas is 15th with nine points.
There are 26 teams entered.
Apaches taking singles wins were No. 4 seed Vaughn Hunter in Flight 2, No. 3 James Martell in Flight 3, No. 1 Ryan Hudelson in Flight 4, No. 2 Trey Seymour in Flight 5 and No. 2 Dillon Eizember in Flight 6.
Hunter, a freshman from Johannesburg, South Africa, scored a 6-2, 6-3 win over Oriol Felipe of Mesa. He is scheduled to play No. 5 seed Erik Eldagsen Marquez of Cowley today at 8 a.m. in the quarterfinals.
Martell, a sophomore who graduated from Robert E. Lee, downed Garrett Mandrell of Vincennes, 6-2, 6-4. He will play Alex Brown of Seminole State next at 8 a.m.
Hudelson, who is a sophomore from Little Rock, Arkansas, defeated Corey Smith of Abraham Baldwin, 6-4, 6-1. He will play a familiar foe in Jacksonville College’s Daniel Apacible, a sophomore from Corpus Christi, today at 9:30 a.m.
Apacible defeated Timothy Stewart of Moraine Valley (Ill.), 6-3, 6-3.
Seymour cruised to a 6-0, 6-0 win over Kristopher Snyder of Johnson County in the Round of 16. The sophomore from Greenville, Mississippi, will now play Ryan Huss of Mesa at 9:30 a.m. today.
Eizember, a sophomore from Harlingen, scored a 6-3, 6-2 win over Mitchell Vechione of Seminole State. His quarterfinal match is against Gavin Grivel of Laredo at 9:30 a.m.
Cutura and Martell, the No. 4 seeds in Flight 1 doubles, are scheduled to play Christian Coetzee and Graham Shaw of Collin College while the TJC team of Hudelson and Hunter, the No. 2 seeds in Flight 2 doubles, will meet Justin Delawder and Arindam Mukherjee from College of DuPage (Illinois).
The Flight 3 Tyler doubles team of Eizember and Seymour, the No. 2 seeds, will play Kyle Funk and Landon Ibbott of Collin.
Weather permitting the tournament is scheduled to conclude on Friday.
Matches are being held at Collin College, Allen High School, Plano East High School and the University of Texas at Dallas.