Elon 7, Charlotte 0
CHARLOTTE, N.C. ? Elon claimed two of the three doubles matches and all six of the singles bouts en route to a 7-0 non-league men’s tennis victory over Charlotte Saturday afternoon at the Phillips Tennis Complex.
No. 61 Damon Gooch, Oscar Podlewski, Carlin Murray, Chase Helpingstine, Philip Nemec and Cody Stauffer MacDowell all seized singles wins as the Phoenix (5-4) won for the fourth time in five contests and the second time in a row. The 49ers (1-4) lost for the first time at home this season.
Gooch (over Ricky Cuellar 6-0, 6-1 at No. 1), Podlewski (over Michael Anders 6-0, 6-4 at No. 2), Murray (over Moritz Bernhoerster 7-6 (7-5), 5-7, 10-6 at No. 3), Helpingstine (over Brad Clinard 6-3, 6-1 at No. 4), Nemec (over Anthony Davison 6-3, 6-3 at No. 5) and Stauffer MacDowell (over Charles Martin-Le Camp 4-6, 6-3, 10-7 at No. 6) all won. Gooch has only surrendered two games in his last two singles matches.
In doubles competition, the No. 20 duo of Gooch and Nemec defeated Bernhoerster and Chris Huynh 8-2 at No. 1. Playing together for the first time, Helpingstine and Murray upended Clinard and Davison 8-2 at No. 2. Anders and Mirza Beciragic beat Stauffer MacDowell and Alberto Rojas 8-5 at No. 3 for Charlotte.
The 49ers will visit No. 34 North Carolina State at Noon Sunday. Elon will continue the non-conference segment of its schedule with its fifth nationally-ranked opponent of the dual match season when No. 69 Radford visits the Jimmy Powell Tennis Center at 1 p.m. next Saturday.
Southern Louisiana 5, Samford 2
HAMMOND, La. --- The Samford University men’s tennis team concluded its weekend road trip to Louisiana with a 1-1 record Saturday as the Bulldogs were defeated by the Southeastern Louisiana Lions 5-2 at the Southeastern Tennis Complex. On Friday, Samford opened the trip with a 4-3 win against UNO.
Samford (1-6) has played all seven of its matches on the road this season. The Bulldogs will begin an all-important nine-match homestand Saturday against Belmont.
In its most recent loss to Southeastern Louisiana (4-2), Samford picked up both of its points in singles play. On court No. 3, the Bulldogs’ native of New Orleans, La., Carson Kadi, defeated the Lions’ Damien Cordoba, 6-3, 7-5.
Kadi has proven to be one of Samford’s top competitors this season and has compiled a 5-2 record in singles play.
The Bulldogs’ second point of the day was picked up by Carl Abalos in the No. 4 singles match. After jumping out to a quick 4-1 lead in the opening set against Southeastern Louisiana’s Jan Bezdecka, the match was awarded to Abalos due to an injury to Bezdecka.
Abalos, Samford’s talented sophomore from Woodstock, Ga., improved to 3-4 in singles play with the victory.
The Samford University men’s tennis team will next be in action Saturday at 1 p.m., as the Bulldogs begin a critical nine-match homestand against the Belmont Bruins at the Samford Tennis Center.
Rice 5, Furman 2
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. ? The Furman men's tennis team dropped a 5-2 decision to No. 27 Rice at the Scott Speicher Tennis Center on the campus of Florida State on Saturday afternoon. The Paladins (4-5) continue to challenge some of the best competition in the country as they gear up for Southern Conference play. Rice improved to 8-3 on the season.
The Rice Owls took the early advantage winning two of the three doubles matches to gain the team point. Furman's number two tandem of Bo Ladyman and Jordan Walters posted an 8-6 win over Andy Wang and Bruno Rosa to improve to 4-2 on the season.
The Paladins earned singles victories at number one and number six. Senior Andy Juc posted his biggest win of the season thus far, recording a 6-1, 5-7, 11-9 win to upset No. 28 Rosa. Sophomore Sawyer Duncan improved to 7-1 on the season with a 6-4, 6-3 win over Christian Saravia.
Furman returns home to face Cornell and Dartmouth on Friday, February 27. The Paladins open the day against Cornell at 1:30 p.m. and conclude against Dartmouth at 6:30 p.m. Wins in both of these matches will push Coach Scarpa closer to an NCAA record. Currently, Scarpa has 817 men's tennis victories and is two away from the all-time record of 819 held by former University of Hawaii head coach Jim Schwitters.
North Florida 5, Georgia Southern 2
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. ? The Georgia Southern men’s tennis team suffered a tough loss Saturday afternoon (Feb. 21) to the North Florida Ospreys as they dropped a 5-2 decision at the UNF Tennis Complex. The Eagles jumped out with a 1-0 lead after claiming the doubles point, but only took one singles match as the Ospreys rallied from behind to take five singles points from Georgia Southern to secure the win. With the loss, Georgia Southern dropped to 3-2 overall this season, while North Florida won its second consecutive match at home and climbed to a 4-2 record.
The Eagles showed their strength in doubles action, taking two of three matches to claim the doubles point. Philip Prins and Gregory Bekkers were first off the court for Georgia Southern taking an 8-2 decision over Ronnie Sang and Graham Edgar at the three seed. But North Florida quickly evened the playing field with a feat at the two seed, leaving the doubles point decision to the one position where Joris De Weerdt and Matthew Sands teamed up to take on Federico Levi and Marc Misanovic. The Eagle duo gathered an 8-5 victory to push Georgia Southern in the lead heading into singles action.
The Ospreys quickly turned around the pace of competition in singles action, taking the first two matches off the court. North Florida captured straight set victories from the five and one seeds to take a 2-1 advantage before Bekkers earned the Eagles’ lone singles victory of the match at the two seed. Bekkers dominated the court as he cruised to a 6-2, 6-4 defeat over Misanovic to even the score at 2-all.
North Florida took the 3-2 advantage as Edgar bypassed Mark Paetz at the six seed, 6-4, 6-3. The Ospreys rounded out the match and the win with a pair of three set victories coming from the three and four seeds, respectively. Sang clinched the match for North Florida from the three position.
The Eagles are back in action tomorrow as they face off against Jacksonville University. First serve is slated for 1 p.m.
USC Upstate 5, Appalachian State 2
SPARTANBURG, S.C.- Appalachian State University men's tennis posted a hard fought battle Saturday morning, but was unable to keep its undefeated streak alive, as the Mountaineers fell to USC Upstate 5-2. The match came down to the wire, as five singles matches went to three sets.
In doubles action, Trent Constance and Peter Jacobs were unable to come up with a win as the duo fell 8-2 in their match. Lee Floyd and Phillip Kloc put up a solid effort but also dropped to their competition, losing 8-6 at the number three position. Bobby Lake and Alain Humblet fell to the same fate at the number one spot, narrowly losing 9-7, to let the Spartans sweep through doubles play and earn the point.
Constance got the Black and Gold off to a strong start at the number two singles position picking up a 6-3, 6-1 win over Renzo Airaldi. Kloc put up a solid effort at the number five spot, but ending up falling 7-5, 6-4 while Lake also dropped his contest in three sets to put ASU down 3-1.
Humblet was not able to hang with Leandro Osorio also falling in three sets, 7-5, 4-6 and 6-3. Jacobs earned Appalachian's second win, beating Jack Roux in three sets after falling behind in the first.
Floyd finished off the afternoon for ASU, losing in a thriller, 4-6, 7-6, 6-2.
ASU continues with its rigorous schedule as the Apps take on nationally ranked South Carolina February 28, at 2 p.m. in Columbia, South Carolina.
Jacksonville State 5, Chattanooga 2
CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. ? Jacksonville State (5-0) won all three doubles matches to gain the point and take a1-0 lead into singles play before topping Chattanooga, 5-2.
The Mocs (1-5) posted wins at the top two spots. Peter Sauska defeated Scott Robertson 6-2, 4-6, 6-1 at the No. 1 singles position and Pavel Vostrikov posted a 6-0, 4-6, 6-2 win at No. 2 over Eduardo Saratt.
Jacksonville State’s Bernardo Bachino defeated Rick van de Bovenkmap in straight sets at No. 3 and Gustavo Holz defated Alex Butnarcuic 7-6 (3), 6-2 at No. 4. JSU’s Chris Duke posted a 6-2, 6-1 win at No. 5 over Dakota Pate and Steffan Solomon defeated Gordon Rudell 6-0, 6-1 at the No. 6 position.
The Mocs will travel to Birmingham Friday, Feb. 20 to take on UAB and the women’s will face the Trailblazers on Saturday at 2 p.m.