David Ekpenyong, Nigeria’s number one male tennis player, is now ranked number two in the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) rankings.
The Our Lady of the Lake University student-athlete has been spectacular since rejoining his colleagues to compete at the Red River Athletic Conference.
Ekpenyong played eight matches between September and October, 2024, and lost only one of the eight Singles matches when he could not help his team win the regionals a few weeks ago.
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Even though the records show that he is 7-3 in his Singles matches, the other two matches were WO (walk over) losses for the lanky Nigerian tennis player as he did not play those matches.
His fairytale run to the finals of the regionals in October was also the first time ever his school reached the finals of the regionals, a feat which was widely celebrated by his colleagues in college.
In the recently released NAIA ranking by the Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA), Ekpenyong is now the number two ranked player in the United States, an unprecedented development, given that he only joined them not quite long ago.
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For context, NAIA schools are for four-year programmes and are sometimes as competitive as or even more than some D2 NCAA Colleges, depending on the ranking of the schools.
Ekpenyong’s school, for instance, is ranked 21 in the NAIA, which clearly shows that they are a team competing against some of the best in the intercollegiate events.
Nigeria Tennis Live will keep tabs on the Davis Cup player’s performance as he continues to show what stuff he is made of and as Nigeria continue preparations for the Davis Cup event in South Africa.