College of Charleston 6, Chattanooga 1
CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. - College of Charleston men's tennis won its Southern Conference opener over Chattanooga, 6-1, on Saturday at the UTC Tennis Center.
Charleston's top duo of junior Lukas Koncilia and sophomore Tom Delme retained their perfect record in dual match play this season. The pair defeated Sam Parfitt and Ryan Pool, 8-2. They are now 5-0 from the No. 1 spot.
Sophomores John Harden and Mickael Trintignac clinched the doubles point for the Cougars with an 8-4 win over William Disterdick and Chris Smith. The pair played at the No.3 spot and are now 2-1 on the season as partners.
The Cougars (3-2, 1-0 SoCon) earned victories in five of the six singles matches, with the sole loss coming in a close battle at the No. 5 spot. Senior Joe Nicolazzi edged Jackson Tresnan in the first set 7-5, before yielding 6-2, 1-0 decisions in the final two sets.
Koncilia rebunded from his first singles loss at North Florida to beat Pool 6-4, 6-3 as the top seed. Delme also earned a win at the third spot to tie Koncilia for the best singles record on the squad (4-1). He defeated Smith 6-2, 6-3 for his third straight singles win.
Trintignac and Boyer increased their records to 3-2 on the year with wins at the No. 2 and No. 4 spots, respectively. Trintignac recorded a 6-2, 6-3 victory over Roberto Vieira while Boyer made quick work of Sam Parfitt, 6-0, 6-2 to finish first among the singles matches.
The Mocs fell to 1-6 on the year and 0-1 in the SoCon with the loss.
CofC travels to Samford (5-1) for a 2 p.m. Monday match. The Bulldogs earned a 4-3 victory over Belmont on Friday and will travel to Murray State on Sunday.
Elon 5, Charlotte 2
ELON, N.C. - The Elon men's tennis team picked up its first victory of the season with a 5-2 win over the Charlotte 49ers under cool, windy conditions at The Jimmy Powell Tennis Center on Saturday afternoon. Elon (1-8) won the doubles point for the first time this season en route to the victory. The 49ers dropped to 1-6 this spring.
"It feels good to get a win," commented Elon head coach Michael Leonard. "This was the first match this season where I felt that everyone competed at a level of which I knew they were capable. From beginning to end, this was the best match we played as a team. It is going to take that type of performance for us to continue to get victories. I thought we had a good week of practice with high energy that carried over into this match.
Elon's Philip Nemec and Cody Stauffer-MacDowell won their first dual match of the year, rolling to an 8-0 victory against Jesse Hutchinson and Chris Huynh at number two. The Phoenix's top duo of Chase Helpingstine and Alberto Rojas improved to 2-2, clinching the doubles point with an 8-4 decision over Michael Anders and Krzysztof Kwasniewicz. Charlotte earned an 8-7 (3) result at number three doubles.
In singles action, Rojas won his second straight match, quickly dispensing of Kwasniewicz, 6-2, 6-1, at number four. Helpingstine improved 5-4 and pushed the Elon advantage to 3-0 on the strength of a 6-3, 6-3 victory over Anders at number two.
Hutchinson put the 49ers on the board with a 6-2, 1-6, 6-3 defeat of Elon's Carlos Arboleda at number six. Stauffer-MacDowell earned the match-clinching victory for the Phoenix, a 6-3, 7-5 defeat of Anthony Davidson at number five. Charlotte picked up a point at number three when Elon's Eric Turner was forced to retire, before Nemec battled out a three-set, 6-2, 2-6, 7-5, win against Moritz Bernhoerster at the top singles position.
Elon will begin its Southern Conference slate on Saturday, March 6 when it hosts Georgia Southern at noon.
Davidson 7, Winston-Salem State 0
Davidson 7, UNC Asheville 0
DAVIDSON, N.C. - Playing their second doubleheader of the season, the Davidson men's tennis team picked up a pair of solid 7-0 wins vs. Winston-Salem State and UNC Asheville on Saturday at the Knobloch Tennis Center on the campus of Davidson College.
The Wildcats got back on the winning track after dropping their previous two matches as they improved to 6-3 on the season. They also ran their home mark to 6-1. Winston-Salem State fell to 0-8, while UNCA dropped to 2-4.
Davidson opened the day with a clean sweep of the Rams, taking all six singles matches in straight sets, while also sweeping through the three doubles matches.
Picking up their first wins of the season were Tareq Alani and Carter Braxton as the duo blanked their two opponents at No. 5 and 6 vs. the Rams. The senior and junior also teamed together as a doubles pair and tallied an 8-3 win at No. 3 to help Davidson capture the doubles point.
Senior Eric Noble halted his four-match skid with a 6-2, 6-2 win at No. 1 over Brian Coxton.
In the afternoon affair, the Wildcats only setback was a defeat at the No. 3 doubles spot as they once again ran the table in singles action on their way to the 7-0 win.
Making it a perfect afternoon was Chris Mark and Sam Burns as they again earned two straight set wins. Mark, off to an outstanding start in his freshman year, pushed his record to a team-best 8-1 after a 6-4, 6-2 win over Jonas Brobeck at No. 3. Earlier in the day, he took home a 6-3, 7-6 win at No. 4 singles over Joab Odera of Winston-Salem State. He currently has a three-match win streak.
Burns, who won a 6-1, 6-1 decision at No. 3 vs. the Rams, scored a 6-4, 6-4 win over the Bulldogs' Thomas Rees at the No. 5 singles slot. He sits at 5-1 on the season. The senior also teamed with Mark at No. 2 doubles in the first match of the day for an 8-2 win to push their record to 6-3 on the season.
Finishing perfect on the day in doubles action was the team of Calum Gee and Walker Lyons, who picked up two 8-1 wins to run their record to 7-1 on the season, tops on the team. The duo are 5-1 when slotted at the No. 2 position.
Gee also pushed his singles winning streak to a team-best six in a row with a 6-2, 6-0 triumph over UNC Asheville's Ryan Matthews at No. 4.
Rounding out the impressive day for Davidson was junior Arie Hefter as he scored a 6-2, 6-3 win at No. 6 vs. UNCA for his first victory of the season.
The Wildcats take some time off before they head on the road for a 3 p.m. match at Winthrop, Mar. 11.
Virginia 7, Wofford 0
CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. - The Wofford men's tennis team fell to the number one ranked Virginia Cavaliers on Saturday morning by a score of 7-0. The win drops the Terriers to 3-5 on the season while the Cavaliers improve to 12-1 on the season.
Virginia was able to jump out to an early lead winning all three doubles matches to take a 1-0 advantage into singles play. The experienced Cavaliers proved to be too much for the young Wofford team. Virginia won all the singles matches to win the match 7-0.
The Terriers will be back in action on Wednesday, March 3 when they will take on UNC Charlotte at 2:30 in Charlotte, NC.
Vanderbilt 6, Furman 1
NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- The Vanderbilt men's tennis team, ranked 39th nationally, defeated #65 Furman 6-1 Saturday afternoon in Nashville, Tenn. Paladin freshman Carl Lundberg picked up Furman's lone win, defeating Adam Baker 4-6, 6-3, (10-6) at number four singles.
The Commodores opened the match by winning all three doubles matches to take the doubles point. Baker and Alex Zotov defeated Paladin seniors Chris Motes and Chris Rhyne 8-4 at number one doubles, and Ryan Lipman and Bryant Salcedo teamed up for a 8-3 win over freshman Andrew Mellow and junior Sawyer Duncan in the number two doubles position. At number three doubles, Vijay Paul and Alex DiValerio defeated sophomore Watson George and Lundberg, 8-1.
In other singles action, #39 Lipman defeated Duncan 6-0, 6-4 at number one singles, and Salcedo beat Motes 6-2, 6-2 at number two singles. Paul recorded a 6-2, 6-3 win over Walters at number three singles, and #94 Zotov defeated Mellow 6-2, 3-6, 6-2 in the fifth singles match. DiValerio posted a 7-5, 6-2 win over freshman Tyler Droll in the number six singles spot.
Furman (3-5, 1-0 SoCon) will play at Georgia Monday at 2:30 p.m.
North Florida 4, Georgia Southern 3
STATESBORO, Ga. - Juan Manuel Melian Puigventos, Alain Garrido and Justin Flynn were all victorious in singles action, but the trio of Eagles could not lead Georgia Southern to victory, falling 4-3, to North Florida Saturday afternoon (Feb. 27). The match was decided on the final court of play as GS fell to 4-6 on the year, while UNF improved to 7-5.
North Florida used the doubles point to secure the overall match win as both teams split singles competition, 3-3. The Ospreys swept the three doubles courts for the early 1-0 lead, but it was short-lived heading into singles play.
The teams tossed the lead back-and-forth as sophomore Garrido took a 6-1, 7-6(2) match win over Leonardo Nahar at the five seed to even the match score at 1-all first in singles action. Osprey Hleb Maslau then pushed UNF back in front with a 6-3,6-2 win over Gregory Bekkers at the two seed, before freshman Melian Puigventos knotted the score at 2-all. The freshman Eagle uprooted Taylor Albrecht in straight sets, winning convincingly, 7-5, 6-4 at the two seed.
Mortiz Buerchner gave the Ospreys a 3-2 advantage defeating senior Jayraj Jadeja 6-3, 7-6(3) at the top singles position. But fellow classmate Flynn, landlocked the match at 3-apiece with a come-from-behind win at No. 6 over Graham Edgar. Flynn captured the first set, 6-2, but succumbed in the second, 4-6, before sealing the win with a 7-5 final third set.
With Flynn's win at No. 6 tying the score 3-3, the match was drawn to the final two competitors at No. 4 where Daniel Sotomarino and Matthijs Verdam were battling in three sets. Sotomarino dropped the opening set, 7-5, but reversed play to capture the next two sets, 6-3, 6-2, and clinch the match for North Florida, 4-3.
"I am very proud of the team today for showing lots of fight and heart on the court," said head coach Justin Miles. "It was a very close match that could have gone either way. A better start in doubles for us might have changed the overall outcome of the match."
Georgia Southern will look to rebound from this tough loss opening Southern Conference play at Elon, Saturday, March 6. First serve in Elon is slated for 12 p.m.