Chattanooga 5, The Citadel 2
CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. - The Chattanooga men's tennis team earned its first Southern Conference win of the season Friday afternoon, defeating The Citadel 5-2. A dramatic finish to doubles propelled the Mocs to four singles wins, as Chattanooga improved to 3-12 overall and 1-6 in the SoCon.
With the win, Chattanooga snaps a 17-match winless streak in SoCon play. It is the Mocs' first win in league play since defeating Georgia Southern 4-3 on April 6, 2008. The Citadel fell to 5-11 and 2-5 in the conference with the loss.
It looked as if the Mocs would secure the doubles point easily after William Disterdick and Jackson Tresnan won at No. 3, 8-5, and Roberto Vieira and Ryan Pool served with a 7-6 lead.
Vieira and Pool took a commanding 40-0 lead in what looked like the final game, before Yufo Sutantio and Alberto Diaz came storming back to force the match into a tiebreaker.
With the momentum, Sutantio and Diaz took the tiebreaker and the No. 1 doubles 9-8 (7-1). That just left Chris Smith and Stephen Crofford for the Mocs. The pair of freshman were down 7-6, but able to break serve in the reversal of what was happening on the first court. Smith and Crofford forced a tiebreaker and won the match 9-8 (7-3) to earn the doubles point for the Mocs.
It was the second doubles point in three SoCon matches for the Mocs, who started only freshman in every match.
Disterdick was the first one off the courts in singles play, winning 6-1, 6-0 at the five spot over Jeremiah Dye.
The Citadel put its first point on the board when David Orces withstood a comeback to beat Smith 6-2, 7-5 at No. 3. Crofford answered for UTC, dominating the second set of his match after winning a tiebreaker in the first. Crofford beat Jeremiah Dye 7-6 (7-4), 6-1.
The next three matches all went into a third set, and the decisive point was in question until late in the day.
Pool finally gave the Mocs the win with a 7-5, 3-6, 6-2 defeat of Alberto Diaz at the No. 2 spot.
With the match decided, Vieira and Tresnan continued to play. Tresnan eventually lost in a third-set tiebreak after cruising through the first set.
Vieira, at the No. 1, won the first set as well, but Sutantio continued to fight back. Vieira had two chances to serve for the match in the third set, but Sutantio forced yet another tiebreak. Vieira came out on top, 6-1, 3-6, 7-6 (11-9).
College of Charleston 7, Wofford 0
MT. PLEASANT, S.C. - The College of Charleston (14-3, 8-0) men's tennis team won its 12th match in its last 13 outings as they defeated Wofford (7-10, 3-4) handily 7-0 in a Southern Conference tennis match at Patriots Point in Mt. Pleasant, S.C.
The Cougars came out of the gate strong as they posted three 8-3 victories to sweep the doubles point and take a 1-0 lead. The pairings of junior Lukas Koncilia and sophomore Tom Delme at the No. 1 position, sophomore John Harden and freshman Kyle Parker at No. 2 and sophomore Mickael Trintignac and junior Mickael Boyer at the third spot posted the victories.
Boyer quickly extended the lead to 2-0 with a 6-2, 6-3 singles victory over Paul Bartholomy at the No. 4 position while Harden played a smart match at No. 6 to earn a 6-1, 6-3 win. Trintignac clinched the match for the Cougars with a hard fought 6-4, 6-2 decision over Stuart Robertson at the second position and Delme made it 5-0 with his 7-5, 6-1 win against Alan Donald at No. 3.
Kyle Parker and Lukas Koncilia then completed the sweep with 5-7, 7-6, 10-5 and 6-1, 7-6 victories, respectively, at No. 5 and No. 1.
CofC has now won their first eight Southern Conference matches and are one of three unbeatens remaining the conference. The Cougars next action will come against one of those two teams, UNC Greensboro (12-3, 5-0), when the Spartans visit the College of Charleston Tennis Center at Patriots Point.