Championship Dreams at Patch Reef

Sitting at a courtside table and barely sweating after dismantling yet another overmatched opponent, Keiser's Soufiane El Mesbahi flashes a smile hinting at big things to come.

A few days earlier El Mesbahi learned he'd become the NAIA's No. 1-ranked men's player. He proceeded to show why on Saturday by easily dispatching Florida National's top player, Guido Gentile, 6-0, 6-0.

That match was the final collegiate contest for him at Keiser's home court – Boca Raton's Patch Reef Park.

“I love this facility,” El Mesbahi said. “In fact, today I'm very emotional because this is my last home game. I've had great memories here - winning Regionals last year, winning a lot of matches.”

For the last seven years Keiser, an NAIA college tennis powerhouse, played its home matches and tournaments - including last year's Fall Regionals - at the Patch Reef Tennis Center.

“It's a phenomenal facility,” first year men's coach Robert McAdoo said. “I wish it was ours full time.”

As well as El Mesbahi's played, Keiser's tennis program is built on more than one player. Its men's team has been ranked No. 3 nationally all season. The women, led by Violet Apisah, are ranked No. 2. Both teams have legitimate national championship aspirations.

During his nine years as a coach and now the Director of Tennis as well as the women's coach at Keiser, Daniel Finn has come close to the elusive team national title.

Last year the Seahawk women advanced to the national championships, ultimately falling to Georgia Gwinnett in the finals.

“This is a great group of young women who compete day in and day out,” Finn said. “They've got great personality. Feisty. Very driven. So obviously, the focus and the drive to play tennis at their best level shows in the results.” 

Apisah won the 2022 fall ITA small college individual national championship, and looked primed to repeat before falling to teammate Katerina Visnevscaia in the national semifinals last fall. That match proved so intense and physically grueling that it likely impacted Visnevscaia's loss in the title match. 

The Seahawks women's team won the ITA Indoor National Championship in 2023, and even without Visnevscaia on Saturday easily defeated Florida National in their final home match of the season. Keiser's women's team hasn't lost at its Patch Reef home since 2018.

A contestant in the U.S. Open and Wimbledon junior tournaments, Apisah admits there's a friendly dispute between Keiser's men's and women's teams as to which team is better.

“I think a few of our girls can beat some of the boys on the team,” she says with a wry smile.

Currently ranked No. 2 nationally, Apisah's been No. 1 at times during her Keiser career. Apisah and playing partner Vanja Vidanovic won the ITA Cup and the ITA Cup Super Bowl Tournament, which pits the top NCAA Division II, NCAA Division III, NAIA, and Junior College teams against each other. 

After winning the Super Bowl Tournament, Apisah and Vidanovic went on to play in the ITA National Fall Championships, where they defeated a doubles team from BYU before falling to a pair from Oklahoma State who are currently ranked No. 5 in NCAA Division I. 

This spring, Apisah teamed with her sister Patricia, to create a Top 10-ranked doubles pair.

“I always played with someone else, but as soon as I found out that (Patricia) was coming to Keiser I told coach that I like really want to team with my sister,” Violet said.

Keiser's final three matches of the season are on the road against NCAA Division II opponents.

The Seahawks men's and women's teams will be favorites to win the Sun Conference tournament when it opens on April 24 in Brunswick, Ga. The NAIA National Championship begins on May 14 in Mobile, Ala.

Both teams will be hoping to claim their first national title since moving their homes to Patch Reef Park.