Chattanooga 1, Middle Tennessee State 6
MURFREESBORO, Tenn. --- The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga men’s tennis team lost its first match of the season Saturday, falling 6-1 to Middle Tennessee in Murfreesboro.
The Mocs, now 1-1, played a highly competitive match at the Racquet Club of Murfreesboro, but the Blue Raiders proved to be too much.
Middle Tennessee, also 1-1 on the year, swept the three doubles matches to claim the early 1-0 lead.
Junior Peter Sauska tied the score for the Mocs, winning at the No. 3 singles position for what would be Chattanooga’s only team point of the evening. Sauska defeated Chris Nowak, 6-0, 6-1 in the first completed singles match.
Senior Badr Bouabdellah played well at No. 1 singles, taking John Peers to a second-set tie break before dropping a 7-5, 7-6 decision. Fellow senior Razvan Axente won his opening set at the No. 2 position but fell in three sets to Marc Rocafort, 2-6, 6-1, 6-2.
The Blue Raiders also claimed the bottom three matches. Morgan Richard defeated Pavel Vostrikov at No. 4, 6-2, 6-3, Richard Cowden bested freshman Hasan Hamadeh, 6-1, 6-2 at No. 5, and Alex McCann was a 6-3, 7-5 winner over Rick van de Bovemkamp at No. 6.
The Mocs return to action Feb. 1 and 2 when they take on Eastern Kentucky, Indiana State and Wright State at Eastern Kentucky University in Richmond, Ky.
Middle Tennessee 6, Chattanooga 1
The Racquet Club, Murfreesboro, Tenn.
Doubles (for one team point)
1. Richard/Rocafort (MT) def. Razvan Axente/Badr Bouabdellah (UTC), 8-4
2. Cowden/Nowak (MT) def. Peter Sauska/Pavel Vostrikov (UTC), 8-6
3. Peers/McCann (MT) def. Robert Diamond/Hamadeh (UTC), 8-3
Singles
1. John Peers (MT) def. Badr Bouabdellah (UTC), 7-5, 7-6(5)
2. Marc Rocafort (MT) def. Razvan Axente (UTC), 2-6, 6-1, 6-2
3. Peter Sauska (UTC) def. Chris Nowak (MT), 6-0, 6-1
4. Morgan Richard (MT) def. Pavel Vostrikov (UTC), 6-2, 6-3
5. Richard Cowden (MT) def. Hasan Hamadeh (UTC), 6-1, 6-2
6. Alex McCann (MT) def. Rick van de Bovenkamp (UTC), 6-3, 7-5
Team records: UTC (1-1); Middle Tennessee (1-1)
Wofford 1, South Carolina 6
COLUMBIA, S.C. ? Senior Andrew Stubbs was victorious despite the Wofford men’s tennis team dropping its season opener, 6-1, to No. 56 ranked South Carolina Sunday morning in Columbia, S.C.
In singles action, Stubbs, a three-time All-Southern Conference pick, claimed the Terriers’ lone win of the match with a victory at the No. 1 position. After falling in the first set to the Gamecocks’ sophomore Diego Cubas, Stubbs notched a 3-6, 6-4, 10-7 come-from-behind victory.
Three Wofford players appeared in their debut matches against USC. Freshman Alan Donald, a Wilmington, N.C., native, competed in Wofford’s No. 5 singles slot, while classmate Michael Schecter, from Rome, Ga., battled in the No. 6 position. Charlotte, N.C.,’s Paul Bartholomy was the lone freshman to see doubles action as he played alongside senior Richard Cahi at No. 3.
The men’s team will travel to Boiling Springs, N.C., Wednesday for a 2 p.m. match against Gardner-Webb.
Wofford Men’s Tennis Results
No. 56 South Carolina 6, Wofford 1
Singles
No. 1 Andrew Stubbs (WOF) def. Diego Cubas (USC) 3-6, 6-4 10-7
No. 2 #74 Pedro Campos (USC) def. George Kernodle (WOF) 6-2, 7-5
No. 3 Johannes Pulsfort (USC) def. Scott Collins (WOF) 6-1, 6-2
No. 4 David Wolff (USC) def. Christopher Williams (WOF) 6-3, 6-1
No. 5 Ivan Cressoni (USC) def. Alan Donald (WOF) 7-5, 6-4
No. 6 Chris Sheehan (USC) def. Michael Schecter (WOF) 6-0, 6-4
Doubles
No. 1 Yevgeny Supeko/Cubas (USC) def. Stubbs/Kernodle (WOF) 8-5
No. 2 Cressoni/Wolff (USC) def. Collins/Williams (WOF) 8-6
No. 3 Sheehan/Joseph Veeder (USC) def. Richard Cahi/Paul Bartholomy (WOF) 8-5
Records
Wofford: 0-1
No. 56 South Carolina: 1-0
Furman 0, Florida 7
GAINESVILLE, Fla. ? The Furman Paladin tennis team fell to 0-2 on the season with a 7-0 loss to #14 Florida on Sunday.
Florida won the doubles point in just under an hour with 8-4 wins on courts two and three. Greg Ouellette and Johnny Hamui jumped to a 5-1 lead before going on to defeat Chris Motes and Andrei Chvetsov in number two doubles. Nestor Briceno and Alex Lacroix were even at three with Jason Basile and Daniel Knause before going on to win five of the next six games.
Earning the Paladins’ only win of the afternoon were Andy Juc and Bo Ladyman, who defeated Jeff Dadamo and Tyler Hochwait 8-7 (6) in number one doubles.
In singles play, each of the Gator wins came in straight sets. In the closest match of the afternoon, Ouellette held off junior Andy Juc 7-6 (4), 7-5 in number one singles.
The Furman Paladins will continue play on Sun., Feb. 3 with a match at Auburn.
Final Results
Doubles
1. Juc/Ladyman def. Dadamo/Hochwalt, 8-7 (6)
2. Ouellette/Hamui def. Motes/Chvetsov, 8-4
3. Briceno/Lacroix def. Basile/Knause, 8-4
Order of finish: 2, 3, 1
Singles
1. Ouellette def. Juc 7-6 (4), 7-5
2. Lacroix def. Ladyman, 6-4, 6-4
3. Briceno def. Knause, 6-1, 6-3
4. Dadamo def. Motes, 6-4, 6-2
5. Hochwalt def. Walters, 6-0, 6-4
6. Corace def. Duncan, 6-1, 6-4
Order of finish: 6, 5, 3, 2, 4, 1
Davidson 4, USC Upstate 3
DAVIDSON, N.C. Senior Flaviu Simihaian (Nasaud, Romania) pulled out an exciting three-set match at No. 1 singles to lead the Davidson men's tennis team to a thrilling 4-3 victory over visiting USC Upstate, who is making their first appearance in Division I tennis, on Sunday afternoon at the Knobloch Tennis Center on the campus of Davidson College.
The Wildcats scored their first win of the season to improve to 1-1, while the Spartans fell to 0-1 in their first official match as a Division I program. They were 23-5 last year and advanced to the D-II national quarterfinals.
"What an incredible match for us today against a very good USC Upstate team who was nationally rank in D-II last year," said head coach Drew Barrett, who is starting his second year at the helm of the Wildcat men's tennis program. "Our guys came through after being down in the doubles point. We made big strides toward our team goals today, and I am thrilled with the overall team effort."
Tied at 3-3 in team points for the match, it all came down to Simihaian's battle at No. 1 singles against 25th ranked Sandy Franz of USC Upstate.
Franz took the first set by the count of 6-4, but Simihaian stepped up his game in the second set for a 6-3 win to push the match to a third and final set. The senior then captured his first win of the season with a well-played 6-3 win to give the Wildcats the win at 4-3.
Simihaian also teamed up with junior Ethan Jaffee (Indianapolis, Ind.) at the No. 1 doubles spot to earn a 9-7 win to improve to 2-0 on the year.
The dramatic ending was sent by the Wildcats taking three of the first five singles matches after dropping the doubles point.
Trailing 2-0, junior Scott Myers (West Palm Beach, Fla.) put Davidson on the board with a 6-3, 7-5 win at No. 6 over Leandro Osorio.
After Sebastian Gonzales pushed the Spartan lead out to 3-1 by defeating sophomore Sam Burns (Banner Elk, N.C.), freshman Walker Lyons (Wallingford,
Pa.) secured his first collegiate singles win with a three-set victory (6-4, 3-6, 7-5) and then Jaffee knotted things up at 3-all with his hard fought 6-2, 7-6(7) win at No. 2 singles to set up the final match of Simihaian and Franz.
Davidson played well in its three double matches, dropping two very close matches at the No. 2 and 3 spots to allow USC Upstate to grab a 1-0 leading heading into singles play.
Davidson remains at home when it next hosts Longwood on Saturday, Feb. 2 at
3 p.m.
Davidson 4, USC Upstate 3
DOUBLES
No. 1 - Simihaian/Jaffee (DAV) def. Franz/Airaldi (USCUState) - 9-7 No. 2 - Gonzales/Osorio (USCUState) def. Compeau/Noble (DAV) - 8-6 No. 3 - Tori/Roux (USCUState) def. Lyons/Burns (DAV) - 9-7
SINGLES
No. 1 - Flaviu Simihaian (DAV) def. #25 Sandy Franz (USCUState) - 4-6, 6-3,
6-3
No. 2 - Ethan Jaffee (DAV) def. Javier Tori (USCUState) - 6-2, 7-6(7) No. 3 - Renzo Airaldi (USCUState) def. Eric Noble (DAV) - 6-4, 6-3 No. 4 - Walker Lyons (DAV) def. Jack Roux (USCUState) - 6-4, 3-6, 7-5 No. 5 - Sebastian Gonzales (USCUState) def. Sam Burns (DAV) - 7-5, 4-6, 3-6 No. 6 - Scott Myers (DAV) def. Leandro Osorio (USCUState) - 6-3, 7-5 Order of finish: 3,6,5,4,2,1*
* Clinched the match
Elon 1, Duke 6
DURHAM, N.C. ? No. 16 Duke captured all three doubles bouts and then emerged victorious in five of the six singles flights, dealing No. 53 Elon a 6-1 non-league men’s tennis setback in the season opener for both teams Saturday night at the Sheffield Indoor Tennis Center.
In doubles competition, David Goulet and Christopher Price staved off Damon Gooch and Philip Nemec 8-5 at No. 1, Reid Carleton and Kiril Dimitrov edged out Oscar Podlewski and Mason Schermerhorn 8-6 at No. 2 and Dylan Arnould and Alex Stone outlasted Alberto Rojas and Cody Stauffer MacDowell 8-5 at No. 3.
In singles action, the Blue Devils (1-0) earned victories by Dimitrov (over No. 72 Gooch 1-6, 6-2, 7-6 (7-3) at No. 1), Goulet (over Podlewski 7-6 (7-4), 6-3 at No. 2), Carleton (over Schermerhorn 6-4, 6-3 at No. 3), Arnould (over Rojas 1-6, 6-3, 6-2 at No. 4) and Jared Pinsky (over Kevin Beard 6-0, 6-2 at No. 6).
The Phoenix (0-1) picked up a win at No. 5 when Nemec overcame Stone by a 6-3, 3-6, 6-3 margin.
Georgia Southern 5, North Florida 2
STATESBORO, Ga. ? Strong singles action propelled the Georgia Southern men’s tennis team to a 5-2 victory over the University of North Florida despite dropping the doubles point early on. The Eagles took their home opener Sunday afternoon at the Hanner Tennis Complex in a four and a half hour battle.
Georgia Southern moves to 1-1 on the season, while North Florida opened its season Sunday 0-1.
The Ospreys claimed the doubles point with victories at the two and three doubles seeds. Javier Ferrin and Adrian Escarate defeated Joris De Weerdt (Mortsel, Belgium) and Matthew Sands (Nassau, Bahamas) 8-2, to give North Florida its first doubles victory. Emmanuel Nkoueleue (Douala, Cameroon) and Borja Malet (Barcelona, Spain) cruised past Yuiti Lopes and Alejandro Argumedo at the one seed 8-4, to even the playing field. At court two, Philip Prins (Cape Town, South Africa) and Gregory Bekkers fought off seven match points in a grueling tiebreak before falling to Eduardo Pereira and Kurt Gattiker 9-8 (9).
The Eagles began singles action taking five of the first six sets from the Ospreys. UNF pushed its lead to 2-0 after Pereira defeated Malet in straight sets at the two seed. Pereira gave UNF its only singles victory during the contest. Within minutes of each other, Prins and De Weerdt made quick decisions over their opponents to tie the match at two-all. Prins ousted Lopes at the four seed 6-2, 6-3, while De Weerdt claimed a 6-0, 6-2 decision over Argumedo at the six seed. Freshman Mark Paetz (Munich, Germany) pushed Georgia Southern’s lead to 3-2 as he downed Graham Edgar in three sets 6-3, 0-6, 6-1, at the five seed.
Antwerp, Belgium native Gregory Bekkers clinched the match for the Eagles at the three seed in a hard fought straight set victory. The sophomore easily claimed the first set 6-4, from Gattiker, and took the lead in the second set 4-3. Gattiker fought back in the second, taking the lead 5-4. Bekkers broke Gattiker to tie the match at five-all. He then held serve and broke Gattiker again for the 12th game, claiming the second set 7-5, and clinching the match 4-2. Senior Nkoueleue defeated his opponent, Ferrin, at the one seed in a three set match. Nkoueleue’s 6-4, 3-6, 6-3 victory finalized the Eagles win 5-2 over the Ospreys.
Head coach Justin Miles was very pleased with his team’s win today. “It’s been a really long time since we’ve won a match after losing the doubles point,” said Miles. “A win like todays shows a lot of character and fight from our guys. It was a great win.”
The Eagles return to action February 2 facing off against USC Upstate in Atlanta, Ga. The match is slated for a 5 pm start.
Georgia Southern 5, University of North Florida 2
Doubles:
1. Emmanuel Nkoueleue/Borja Malet (GS) d. Yuiti Lopes/Alejandro Argumedo (UNF) 8-4
2. Eduardo Pereira/Kurt Gattiker (UNF) d. Philip Prins/Gregory Bekkers (GS) 9-8 (9) *
3. Javier Ferrin/Adrian Escarate (UNF) d. Joris De Weerdt/Matthew Sands (GS) 8-2
Order of finish: 3, 1, 2
*Clinched the doubles point
Singles:
1. Emmanuel Nkoueleue (GS) d. Javier Ferrin (UNF) 6-4, 3-6, 6-3
2. Eduardo Pereira (UNF) d. Borja Malet (GS) 6-1, 6-4
3. Gregory Bekkers (GS) d. Kurt Gattiker (UNF) 6-4, 7-5 *
4. Philip Prins (GS) d. Yuiti Lopes (UNF) 6-2, 6-3
5. Mark Paetz (GS) d. Graham Edgar (UNF) 6-3, 0-6, 6-1
6. Joris De Weerdt (GS) d. Alejandro Argumedo (UNF) 6-0, 6-2
Order of finish: 2, 4, 6, 5, 3, 1
* Clinched the match
UNC Greensboro 1, Old Dominion 6
UNC Greensboro 7, Norfolk State 0
NORFOLK, VA ? UNC Greensboro picked up its first men’s tennis win of the 2008 spring season on Saturday, blanking Norfolk State, 7-0.
The Spartans won four of the six singles matches in straight sets. Arsel Kumdereli, Yuroslav Litus, William John and Andrew Clark all picked up straight set wins. Both Taylor Befus and Andrey Bubnov needed third set tiebreakers to win their respective matches.
Litus and John and Clark and Befus teamed up to win their doubles pro-sets to complete the shutout.
The Spartans (1-3) return to action on Saturday, Feburary 9 when they travel to the nation’s capitol to take on George Washington University.
AGATE
Doubles
Vlcek/Krakora (NSU) d. Bubnov/Kumdereli (UNCG) 8-3
Litus/John (UNCG) d. Zahariev/Yordanov (NSU) 8-3
Clark/Befus (UNCG) d. Del Castillo/Ruff (NSU) 8-4
Singles
Bubnov (UNCG) d. Vlcek (NSU) 6-4, 6-7, 1-0 (10-6)
Kumdereli (UNCG) d. Zahariev (NSU) 7-6, 6-4
Litus (UNCG) d. Del Castillo (NSU) 6-2, 6-4
John (UNCG) d. Yordanov (NSU) 7-6, 6-1
Befus (UNCG) d. Krakora (NSU) 5-7, 6-4, 1-0 (7-3)
Clark (UNCG) d. Ruff (NSU) 6-1, 6-3
NORFOLK, VA ? Yuroslav Litus picked up his first win of the spring season with a straight-set win at No. 4 singles, but UNC Greensboro dropped a 6-1 decision at Old Dominion late Friday night.
Litus, a freshman from Orel, Russia, topped Timo Gehrke, 7-5 and 6-3. However, the Monarchs won the remaining five singles matches to take control. UNCG (0-3) also got a doubles pro-set win from Andrey Bubnov and Arsel Kumdereli, downing Rodrigo Souza and Tobias Fanselow, 8-5.
UNCG faces Norfolk State in Norfolk on Saturday at 10 am.
DOUBLES:
1. Bubnov/Kumdereli (UNCG) def. Souza/ Fanselow(ODU) 8-5
2. Gehrke/Couzens (ODU) def. John/Litus (UNCG) 8-3
3. M. King/ R. King (ODU) def. Betus/Clark (UNCG) 8-2
SINGLES:
1. Alex Seleznev (ODU) def. Andrey Bubnov (UNCG) 4-6, 6-2, 6-4
2. Eidy Igarashi (ODU) def. Arsel Kumdereli (UNCG) 6-4, 6-2
3. Tobias Fanselow (ODU) def. William John (UNCG) 6-2, 6-3
4. Yuroslav Litus (UNCG) def. Timo Gehrke (ODU) 7-5, 6-3
5. Rodrigo Souza (ODU) def. Taylor Befus (UNCG) 6-2, 6-1
6. Yakov Diskin (ODU) def. Andrew Clark (UNCG) 6-0, 6-0