Tallahassee. — Florida State University’s juniors Benjamin Lock of Zimbabwe and Marco Nunez have been selected for the 2015 NCAA Individual Championships to be held from May 20-26 at the Hurd Tennis Centre in Waco, Texas on the campus of Baylor University.“It feels great to make the singles and doubles events at the NCAA Tournament,” Lock said. “As an individual, this is what you practice for the whole year so I’m just glad I will be able to compete.”

Lock and Nunez are the 16th-ranked doubles team in the country and jumped six spots in the final ITA poll before the tournament after beating the No. 2 doubles team in the country, Luca Corinteli and Ryan Shane of Virginia, in the ACC Tournament.

“We’ll get the chance to compete with the best at the final site in Baylor,” Lock continued. “Marco and I have done well at national tournaments before so we’re really excited to go play in Texas and see what we can do.”

Lock and Nunez went 14-6 in the spring season and won both matches in the ACC Tournament via tiebreaker. They are the first Seminole pair to be selected for the doubles championship since Dominic Cotrone and Blake Davis reached the Round of 16 in 2013.

Lock will also compete in the 64-player singles championship. He becomes the first Seminole selected for the singles draw since Vahid Mirzadeh in 2011. Lock jumped 54 spots in the final poll of the regular season, from No. 98 to 44, after beating two players ranked in the ITA Top 40. One of those, No. 20 Mitchell Frank of Virginia, was 36-0 in his ACC career before falling in straight sets to Lock in Tallahassee.

Aside from the win over Frank, Lock also has ranked wins over players from Virginia Tech, North Carolina State, Georgia Tech, and South Alabama. He was the Seminoles top player in 2015, notching a 13-7 record on Court 1, including 7-3 in the ACC.

Before the NCAA Championships begin on May 20, Lock and Nunez will lead the Seminoles in the NCAA Team Championships beginning Friday, May 8 in Athens, Ga. The Seminoles knocked off their first round opponent, No. 57 Troy, earlier this season, 4-0. The winner will face No. 8-national seed Georgia or Winthrop in the regional final Saturday afternoon. — Seminoles.com

 

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