College of Charleston 6, Gardner-Webb 1
MT. PLEASANT, S.C. - The College of Charleston men's tennis team defeated Gardner-Webb, 6-1, in its spring season opener held Sunday afternoon at the CofC Tennis Center at Patriots Point.
The Cougars (1-0) swept doubles and won five of their six singles matches to roll past the Bulldogs (1-3). The No. 1 doubles combination of senior Lukas Koncilia and sophomore Kyle Parker claimed three early service breaks to top Gardner-Webb's Andrew Carter and Andrew Veeder, 8-2.
The All-Southern Conference tandem of senior Mickael Boyer and junior Mickael Trintignac, who are ranked No. 6 in the ITA Carolina Regional rankings, clinched the doubles point allowing only one game to Korhan Ates and Roman Piftor in an 8-1 victory at No. 2.
"We really have been practicing a lot of doubles," said 2010 Southern Conference Coach of the Year Jay Bruner, who used different combinations in the fall. "We have found good mentoring roles pairing upperclassmen with underclassmen. There are a lot of good fits on our team. Doubles is still a work in progress for us, but our guys are blending and having some great chemistry together right now."
In singles play, sophomore Bryan Roberts, a transfer from Duquesne, increased the CofC lead to 2-0 in the dual match with a 6-2, 6-4 straight-set victory over Andrew Carter at No. 6, while Kyle Parker followed with a 7-6 (5), 6-3 win over Andrew Veeder at No. 4.
Junior Tom Delme dispatched Adam Knutsson-Sunblad, 6-1, 6-3, to clinch the season-opening victory for the Cougars at the No. 3 line.
"It was about what I was expecting from our guys today," Bruner said. "Gardner-Webb was very competitive and a lot of the matches were close. We came out and fought hard. We got in a lot of good match play and had some guys in different situations to finish the match. It was perfect for what we needed and I was glad to see everyone pick up their level of play when they needed to."
CofC will contest its next six matches on the road beginning at No. 53-ranked Clemson on Sunday, Feb. 13 in Clemson, S.C. First serve between the Cougars and Tigers is scheduled for 1 p.m. (ET).
Memphis 7, Chattanooga 0
CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. - The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga men's tennis team dropped a 7-0 match at Memphis this morning. The Mocs were swept in all nine matches on the day, dropping to 0-4 on the year.
The Tigers brought a No. 58 national ranking into today's match, along with a 2-1 overall record. They won all three doubles matches, 8-1, 8-3 and 8-2, respectively.
Memphis swept the singles bouts, winning four in straight sets. Sophomore Jackson Tresnan put up a fight at No. 2. He pushed David Ohare to three sets before losing 4-6, 7-5, 1-0. Tresenan dropped the final pro-set 10-6.
Senior Rick van de Bovenkamp also went three sets in his first action at No. 5. He lost to John Taylor 6-3, 5-7, 1-0, falling in the final pro-set 10-4.
Chattanooga is back in action on Saturday, Feb. 5 at 1:00 p.m., hosting Tennessee Tech at the Hixson Racquet Club.