Middle Tennessee State University Athletics
COLUMN: A Five-Peat Dream into Reality
4/21/2024 6:21:00 PM | Men's Tennis
Middle Tennessee Men’s Tennis picked up its fifth straight CUSA Crown on Sunday. The circumstances of their dreams coming true couldn’t quite have been sweeter.
MURFREESBORO, Tenn. — Jakub Kroslak dreamt of this moment the second the Blue Raiders won their semifinal on Saturday to earn their spot in Sunday's Conference USA Men's Tennis Final. The freshman from Bratislava, Slovakia envisioned the moment where he would be the one to score the final point, the final game, the final set, the final match Middle Tennessee men's tennis needed to win its fifth-straight CUSA title.
"I was even dreaming yesterday about it," Kroslak said. "And I can't even describe how I feel right now. Yesterday, it was a dream and today, my dream comes true."
Leo Raquin, the senior transfer from Temple, dreamt of the moment long before he met Kroslak, who joined the Blue Raiders only in January of 2024. The Besancon, France native knew of MTSU's four-straight CUSA titles. The ability to fight for championships, fight for rings, was what the top-ranked singles player was looking for.
"When I called Coach Jimmy for the first time, he talked to me about it," Raquin said. "And I was like, ok, it's my last semester and I want to win a championship and a ring. That's why I came here.
"We all fought for each other. I'm happy, very happy."
The aforementioned Coach Jimmy Borendame, the architect of the now five-straight CUSA Men's Tennis titles after MTSU's 4-2 win over Liberty on Sunday, dreamt of the day that was in Murfreesboro for many years. A packed house at an on-campus, outdoor tennis facility, a community built off the foundation of a successful program taken to heights nearly no other CUSA program has ever seen.
Perhaps tonight, a week from now, maybe even a month from now, Borendame will get a chance to enjoy it. Because post-game on Sunday, drenched from the water cooler dumped on his head during his TV interview, he just had a sense of relief.
"I like winning, but I hate losing more," Borendame said. "To me, it was just so important to kind of christen the new outdoor center with a W. That's just been going through my mind for a long time."
Winning five titles in a row is as difficult as it sounds. Middle Tennessee is the first ever men's tennis program to do it in Conference USA and just the seventh program to win that many titles in a row across every sport CUSA sponsored that had records on hand. It's tricky not only because of the usual challenges that come with winning one title — recruiting the right amount of talent, developing those players into the best versions of themselves and making sure that team gels together in an environment that's simultaneously competitive and supportive — but also because those particular elements must be recultivated again every single year.
Borendame and assistant coaches Andrea Caligiana and John Kreis have cultivated a culture that brings in talent, develops them and keeps them around perhaps better than any other coaching staff in the country. But the 2024 team was perhaps the biggest challenge yet for the Blue Raiders to form, with the departure of the "Big Three" of Stijn Slump, Franciso Rocha and Pavel Motl that served as the bedrock of the previous four CUSA title teams. Borendame had some depth built up in rising sophomores Marcel Kamrowski, Ondrej Horak and Shu Matsuoka to start but needed to find the top-level talent needed to maintain the program's high standards.
To their credit, they looked everywhere, finding transfers like Raquin, freshmen like Kroslak and even doubles specialists like Javier Cueto Ramos to reload. And then the culture took over, turning Raquin into one of the top players in the region and helping Kroslak, who was so green to the program when he arrived, he slept without a bed his first couple of weeks in Murfreesboro, into players that could win in clutch situations, as both did on Sunday.
"My teammates at Temple, they ask me, 'How? We used to play with you and you were not playing like that!'" Raquin said. "I don't know actually. I think practicing with better guys, of course Coach Jimmy and Coach Cali helped me a lot. I feel like I'm free and I'm happy to play. I'm not stressed at all. That's why I improved my game."
One element that's only grown in 2024 is the Blue Raider fan base, who now get to enjoy watching Borendame's team in two world class locations, the Adams Tennis Complex during indoor season and now at the Outdoor Tennis Complex on the campus of Middle Tennessee State University. Something that Borendame built thanks to his own leg work in the community, partnering with local businesses and food trucks to provide concessions to fans, offering clinics to youth in the area to build Blue Raider fan bases early in life and connecting with generations of Blue Raider men's tennis alumni both inside and outside of Murfreesboro.
"We've been really fortunate to have such a great tradition and to keep building on it with our community," Borendame said. "I just loved hearing the roar of the crowd today, it was just awesome."
On Sunday, many dreams were realized for the Blue Raiders. Now, new ones can take their place ahead of next week's selection Monday, where the Blue Raiders have a bigger goal in mind, one that no MTSU Men's Tennis team has reached: make the Round of 16. And then next year, win their sixth CUSA title in a row. A task even more daunting now, Borendame noted.
"We've got a giant target on our back, and now that target just got bigger."
"I was even dreaming yesterday about it," Kroslak said. "And I can't even describe how I feel right now. Yesterday, it was a dream and today, my dream comes true."
Five-peat complete! Jakub Kroslak hits a winner on Court 4 to clinch a fifth straight CUSA title for @MT_MensTennis! pic.twitter.com/4TajoMRUBG
— Sam Doughton (@sjdoughton) April 21, 2024
Leo Raquin, the senior transfer from Temple, dreamt of the moment long before he met Kroslak, who joined the Blue Raiders only in January of 2024. The Besancon, France native knew of MTSU's four-straight CUSA titles. The ability to fight for championships, fight for rings, was what the top-ranked singles player was looking for.
"When I called Coach Jimmy for the first time, he talked to me about it," Raquin said. "And I was like, ok, it's my last semester and I want to win a championship and a ring. That's why I came here.
"We all fought for each other. I'm happy, very happy."
The aforementioned Coach Jimmy Borendame, the architect of the now five-straight CUSA Men's Tennis titles after MTSU's 4-2 win over Liberty on Sunday, dreamt of the day that was in Murfreesboro for many years. A packed house at an on-campus, outdoor tennis facility, a community built off the foundation of a successful program taken to heights nearly no other CUSA program has ever seen.
Perhaps tonight, a week from now, maybe even a month from now, Borendame will get a chance to enjoy it. Because post-game on Sunday, drenched from the water cooler dumped on his head during his TV interview, he just had a sense of relief.
"I like winning, but I hate losing more," Borendame said. "To me, it was just so important to kind of christen the new outdoor center with a W. That's just been going through my mind for a long time."
Winning five titles in a row is as difficult as it sounds. Middle Tennessee is the first ever men's tennis program to do it in Conference USA and just the seventh program to win that many titles in a row across every sport CUSA sponsored that had records on hand. It's tricky not only because of the usual challenges that come with winning one title — recruiting the right amount of talent, developing those players into the best versions of themselves and making sure that team gels together in an environment that's simultaneously competitive and supportive — but also because those particular elements must be recultivated again every single year.
Borendame and assistant coaches Andrea Caligiana and John Kreis have cultivated a culture that brings in talent, develops them and keeps them around perhaps better than any other coaching staff in the country. But the 2024 team was perhaps the biggest challenge yet for the Blue Raiders to form, with the departure of the "Big Three" of Stijn Slump, Franciso Rocha and Pavel Motl that served as the bedrock of the previous four CUSA title teams. Borendame had some depth built up in rising sophomores Marcel Kamrowski, Ondrej Horak and Shu Matsuoka to start but needed to find the top-level talent needed to maintain the program's high standards.
To their credit, they looked everywhere, finding transfers like Raquin, freshmen like Kroslak and even doubles specialists like Javier Cueto Ramos to reload. And then the culture took over, turning Raquin into one of the top players in the region and helping Kroslak, who was so green to the program when he arrived, he slept without a bed his first couple of weeks in Murfreesboro, into players that could win in clutch situations, as both did on Sunday.
"My teammates at Temple, they ask me, 'How? We used to play with you and you were not playing like that!'" Raquin said. "I don't know actually. I think practicing with better guys, of course Coach Jimmy and Coach Cali helped me a lot. I feel like I'm free and I'm happy to play. I'm not stressed at all. That's why I improved my game."
One element that's only grown in 2024 is the Blue Raider fan base, who now get to enjoy watching Borendame's team in two world class locations, the Adams Tennis Complex during indoor season and now at the Outdoor Tennis Complex on the campus of Middle Tennessee State University. Something that Borendame built thanks to his own leg work in the community, partnering with local businesses and food trucks to provide concessions to fans, offering clinics to youth in the area to build Blue Raider fan bases early in life and connecting with generations of Blue Raider men's tennis alumni both inside and outside of Murfreesboro.
"We've been really fortunate to have such a great tradition and to keep building on it with our community," Borendame said. "I just loved hearing the roar of the crowd today, it was just awesome."
On Sunday, many dreams were realized for the Blue Raiders. Now, new ones can take their place ahead of next week's selection Monday, where the Blue Raiders have a bigger goal in mind, one that no MTSU Men's Tennis team has reached: make the Round of 16. And then next year, win their sixth CUSA title in a row. A task even more daunting now, Borendame noted.
"We've got a giant target on our back, and now that target just got bigger."
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