South Carolina 6, Wofford 1
COLUMBIA, S.C. - The Wofford men’s tennis team opened the 2009 season on the road Saturday falling to the #52 ranked Gamecocks of South Carolina in Columbia, S.C. by a 6-1 margin. The Terriers are now 0-1 on the young season while the Gamecocks improve to 1-0.
The Terriers did come to play however and had the Gamecocks on the ropes in the opening doubles portion of the match as the freshmen duo of Danny Manlow and Stuart Robertson held a late break on court one, as did Tinus van Vyk and Alan Donald on court three. However, South Carolina battled back to take both matches by scores of 9-7 on court one and 9-8 (5) on court three, to go along with an 8-5 win on court two to take the lone doubles points.
Trailing 1-0 heading into singles play the Terriers continued to fight against the 52nd ranked Gamecocks but were only able to come away with one victory. Playing the number five position, van Wyk picked up his first career collegiate win over Thomas Stoddard by a score of 4-6, 6-4. 1-0 (10-8).
The Terriers return to action Sunday as they travel to take on ACC power Georgia Tech. Match time is slated for 2 p.m. in Atlanta, Ga.
Gooch, Nemec Off to Strong Start at Duke Invitational
DURHAM, N.C. ? Elon’s 49th-ranked duo of Damon Gooch and Philip Nemec upended No. 35 Duke’s 38th-ranked team of Kiril Dimitrov and Alain Michel 8-4 to claim a share of first place in the doubles standings after the first day of the three-day Duke Invitational men’s tennis tournament Saturday afternoon at the Sheffield Indoor Tennis Center.
The Gooch/Nemec combo ? currently ranked No. 14 in the NCAA’s South Region ? and the Clay Donato/Taylor Fogleman pairing of No. 20 North Carolina are currently tied for the top spot in the standings with five points apiece. Sunday’s matches are scheduled to begin at 11 a.m.
In other doubles action, the Blue Devils’ Dylan Arnould and Reid Carleton held off the Phoenix’s Chase Helpingstine and Alberto Rojas 8-4, Duke’s David Holland and Torsten Wietoska edged Elon’s Cody Stauffer-MacDowell and Oscar Podlewski 8-6, the Blue Devils’ Aaron Carpenter and Jared Pinsky prevailed over the Phoenix’s Alex Crockford/Carlin Murray 8-5 and
Duke’s David Lue and Luke Marchese decisioned Elon’s Clark Howell and Kevin Beard 8-2.
The Duke players swept the Elon players on the singles scene as No. 25 Reid Carleton nipped Damon Gooch 7-6, 7-5, No. 45 Kiril Dimitrov outlasted No. 120 Oscar Podlewski 6-4, 6-3, Dylan Arnould slipped past Chase Helpingstine 6-3, 7-6, Jared Pinsky overcame Philip Nemec 6-3, 2-6, 6-4, Torsten Wietoska staved off Carlin Murray 7-5, 6-2, Alain Michel defeated Cody Stauffer-MacDowell 6-1, 6-4, David Holland beat Alberto Rojas 6-1, 6-4, Aaron Carpenter dispatched Clark Howell 6-3, 6-0, Luke Marchese topped Kevin Beard 6-0, 7-6 and David Lue pulled out a 7-5, 6-3 victory over Alex Crockford.