Senior Spotlight: Men’s Tennis

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – Florida State men’s tennis will celebrate its three graduating seniors Sunday before the match against Virginia Tech at 12 p.m. at Scott Speicher Memorial Tennis Center. Sebastian Arcila, Bryn Nahrung and Richard Thongoana have contributed numerous wins to the program during their time at FSU and represented the university well as student-athletes.

Sebastian Arcila

Arcila, a fifth-year senior from Trujillo Alto, Puerto Rico, came to Florida State as the No. 13 ranked player in the 2017 recruiting class. He has since competed at the Davis Cup as the number one player for Puerto Rico and in the Junior US Open.

He began his career as a Seminole in spring 2018 with a perfect 5-0 singles record and 4-0 doubles record. In fall 2018, he led the team with seven doubles wins and advanced to the finals of the ITA Southeast Regional with partner Alex Knaff following four straight doubles wins.

Arcila and Knaff were named ACC Doubles Pair of the Week in 2019. The duo notched three ranked doubles wins throughout that season, including a win over the No. 18 pair from UCF during the NCAA tournament. To start the fall 2019 season, Arcila and Knaff were ranked No. 11 in the country.

In singles, Arcila started the 2020 spring season on a five-match winning streak and earned his first two career ranked singles wins. He logged the fourth-most singles wins on the team in spring 2021 and earned an upset win in doubles with Knaff against the No. 31 ranked pair from Georgia Tech.

“He has certainly won some big matches for us,” head coach Dwayne Hultquist said. “Last year against Notre Dame, he helped us win that one. He can win a lot of different ways.”

This year, Arcila opened the season with four wins in doubles with Loris Pourroy. Before being sidelined due to injury, he earned two singles wins and played a tight three-set match with No. 2 Ben Shelton from the University of Florida which went unfinished.

Arcila is earning a bachelor’s degree in Information, Communication & Technology from FSU and plans to work as a software engineer.

“Sebastian has really grown as a student-athlete, has excellent grades, and already has a job waiting for him after college,” Hultquist shared.

Bryn Nahrung

Nahrung came to Florida State by way of Brookfield, Queensland, Australia as the No. 17 ranked player in his class in Australia. He played six different sports while growing up before choosing to specialize in tennis.

At FSU, Nahrung has primarily been a doubles specialist. He started his first spring season with five doubles wins and clinched the doubles point against Auburn with Juan Martin Jalif.

He found a rhythm in fall 2019 with four straight wins at the Bedford Cup with Richard Thongoana to claim the doubles title. Nahrung finished 6-2 in doubles that fall.

“He’s contributed with our team especially in doubles,” Hultquist said. “He won a doubles tournament, and has clinched some big wins in doubles, especially when we beat Auburn.”

Once again, Nahrung started the 2020 spring season on a winning streak after beating the first three doubles opponents with Thongoana. In 2021, Nahrung earned an ACC doubles win over Clemson with Chase Wood.

This season, Nahrung teamed up with Youcef Rihane to sweep Samford 6-0 to help secure the doubles point.

Off the court, Nahrung is a four-year member of the Student-Athlete Advisory Committee and was a member of Seminole Student Boosters for two years. He is earning a bachelor’s degree in Finance and plans to pursue an MBA at FSU.

“When I think of Bryn, I think of someone that’s a very good student-athlete,” Hulquist shared. “He’s been an excellent student and heavily involved in campus activities. He has represented our team well. He’s great with people and will be highly successful.”

Richard Thongoana

Thongoana joined the team at Florida State as a four-time national champion in South Africa. The senior from Johannesburg was the No. 1 U18 tennis player in Africa in 2016-17 and earned a world top-80 ITF ranking in 2017.

During his first fall at FSU, Thongoana won the Dick Vitale Collegiate Clay Court Invitational in doubles with Chase Wood. He also advanced to the round of 16 at the ITA Southeast Regional in singles.

Thongoana had an excellent rookie campaign in spring 2019 that featured winning records in both singles (10-8) and doubles (9-7). He clinched his first collegiate match against Texas Tech in the first round of the ITA Kickoff Weekend. Thongoana also contributed to the Noles’ NCAA Tournament first-round victory over No. 30 UCF with a singles win on court five. In doubles, Thongoana was ranked as high as No. 56 with Wood.

“Rich came to us and contributed to the team right away as a freshman,” Hultquist said. “Rich has been a four-year starter, and he’s won a lot of college matches for us.”

At the Bedford Cup in fall 2019, Thongoana claimed another doubles title through four straight wins with Bryn Nahrung. Thongoana and Nahrung started the 2020 spring season with a three-match winning streak as Thongoana went on to finish 7-3 in doubles overall. He also went 2-1 in singles.

Last spring, Thongoana was tied for the team lead with five conference singles wins as he played all season on courts two and three. He beat the No. 52 singles player from a top 20 UCF team for one of Florida State’s four wins over a nationally-ranked singles opponent.

This year, Thongoana has primarily played in singles on courts three and four. He earned a vital point in FSU’s win over No. 20 North Carolina State and only surrendered two games in a quick win over Boston College.

Thongoana is earning a bachelor’s degree in Public Health with a minor in Chemistry and plans to attend graduate school.

“I would regard him as one of the nicest guys we’ve ever had on our team,” Hulquist added. “He’s incredibly fair, and other teams see him that way. He has represented us well.”

Up Next

No. 33 Florida State will play its final home matches of the season this weekend at Scott Speicher Memorial Tennis Center beginning with No. 8 Virginia on Friday at 5:30 p.m. The Noles will celebrate Senior Day prior to the match against Virginia Tech at 12 p.m. on Sunday.

Live stats for Friday’s match can be found here.

Live stats for Sunday’s match can be found here.

For more information on the Seminole Men’s Tennis program, check Seminoles.com and follow us on social media at FSUMTennis (IG) and @FSU_MTennis (TW).