Elon 7, Lees-McRae 0
Elon 5, George Washington 2
ELON, N.C. - The Elon men's tennis team got back on the winning track under sunny skies at The Jimmy Powell Tennis Center on Saturday, defeating Lees-McRae, 7-0, and then closing the afternoon with a 5-2 victory over George Washington. Nine Phoenix players saw action on the courts with senior Phil Nemec and freshman Cameron Silverman earning victories in both singles matches on the day. Elon moved to 5-4 on the year and snapped a three-match losing streak.
Elon switched up its lineup a bit in the first match of the day as Phillip Meyer and Andrew Prince saw the first singles action of their collegiate careers. The Phoenix earned the doubles point to begin the match with wins on courts one and two. Chase Helpingstine and Alberto Rojas, one of the Phoenix's top pairs from last season, started things off by blanking Alexander Hayes and Skylar Warren at the number one position, 8-0. Eric Turner and Thomas Darling clinched the point, defeating Callum Loveridge and Nandor Solymosi, 8-4.
The Phoenix flew through singles action, winning all six matches to post the shutout. Silverman lost only two games in his 6-1, 6-1 win over Solymosi at the top spot. Nemec was quick off the court with a 6-2, 6-2 defeat of Travis VanHoy on court two.
Meyer and Prince posted identical scores of 6-2, 6-2 over their opponents at number five and six, respectively. At number three, Darling knocked off Hayes, 6-0, 6-4, while sophomore Carlos Arboleda cruised to a 6-1, 6-0 win against Pedro De Sousa Nunes in the four position.
In the second match of the day, Elon jumped out to the early lead on the doubles courts once again. Nemec and Helpingstine, ranked 56th in the country, improved to 6-1 on the year after taking care of George Washington's Ugur Atalay and Erik Hannah, 8-3. Silverman and Rojas teamed up on court two for an 8-4 victory over Christopher Kushma and Alexander van Gils.
At number one, Nemec put Elon up 2-0 with the fourth singles win of his senior campaign, defeating Atalay, 6-1, 6-3. Helpingstine put the Phoenix one match away from the win after a straight-set victory against van Gils on court four. The visitors got on the board at number five as Hannah pulled of a 6-4, 0-6, 6-3 defeat of Rojas.
Silverman quickly ended any thought of a George Washington comeback by battling back after dropping set one to defeat Kushma, 2-6, 6-3, 6-4, at number three. Turner picked up the last Phoenix point with his 6-4, 7-6 (3) victory against Yan Levinski on court two.
Elon continues its four-match home stand when it hosts Texas-Pan American on Monday afternoon at 2 p.m.
Georgia 7, Furman 0
ATHENS, Ga. - The 12th-ranked Georgia men's tennis team blanked Furman, 7-0, Saturday afternoon in Athens, Ga.
Javier Garrapiz, ranked 24th nationally, defeated Paladin senior Sawyer Duncan, 6-1, 6-4 at number one singles, while 12th-ranked Wil Spencer handed Furman sophomore Andrew Mellow a 6-0, 6-4 loss at number two singles. In the third singles match, #31 Sadio Doumbia defeated Paladin freshman Alex Christ, who is returning from an injury, 6-2, 6-1. Drake Bernstein posted a 6-3, 6-2 victory over sophomore Tyler Droll at number four singles, while Hernus Pieters defeated sophomore Robbie Aru, 6-0, 6-0 in the fifth singles match. At number six singles, Campbell Johnson defeated rookie Joel Cook, 6-3, 6-3.
In doubles action, 41st ranked Ignactio Taboada and Doumbia defeated Duncan and Mellow, 8-3, while 37th ranked Bernstein and Spencer handed Droll and senior Andrei Chvetsov an 8-0 loss in the second doubles match-up. At number three doubles, Pieters teamed up with Garrett Brasseaux for an 8-3 win over Cook and junior Watson George.
Furman (0-10) will play at the Citadel on March 5 at 1:30 p.m.
Georgia Southern 4, Mercer 3
Macon, Ga. - The Georgia Southern Men's Tennis team (4-4) defeated Mercer (3-4) by a 4-3 score in a long match on Saturday afternoon at the Peddy Tennis Center. Freshmen Marco Osorio's strong play clinched the match-winning point for the Eagles.
Georgia Southern came out strong in singles play with wins at the top four seeds. Osorio stepped up for his team at number-four singles, rallying with a 7-6, 2-6, 7-5 decision after trailing 5-4 in the third set to win his match.
"Osorio's play under pressure today was remarkable," said Eagles Head Coach Nick Zieziula. "For a freshman to play with that level of poise, managing the momentum shifts like he did in a deciding-match situation, was very impressive."
Alain Garrido started the Eagles off with a 6-4, 6-2 victory over Peter Tauchner at No. 2 singles. No. 1-seeded Juan Melian Puigventos defeated Mercer's Pierre Tafelski in straight sets 6-1, 7-5. Sophomore Matthijs Verdam served Fernando Amerndaris a loss with a score of 6-3, 6-4 at the No. 3 spot.
The number-one duo of Melian Puigventos and Verdam improved to 7-1 for the season, claiming the only Eagles' win in doubles play. They defeated Mercer's Tauchner and Rosindo 8-6 to extend their win streak to three.
"More important than any one individual performance today, though, was the way the entire team stepped up and responded to our disappointing performance in doubles play," Zieziula said. "During the singles we found a new level of intensity and a new level of confidence. This is a great win to wrap up a long string of road matches and we need to bring this momentum into our homestand which starts tomorrow."
The Eagles return to Statesboro to play host Florida A&M Sunday, February 27th, at the Hanner Tennis Complex. The match begins at noon.
Georgia State 4, College of Charleston 3
ATLANTA, Ga. - The College of Charleston men's tennis team fell short of Georgia State, 4-3, in a non-conference dual match held Saturday afternoon at Piedmont Park.
It ended a two-match win streak for the Cougars (3-2), who claimed the doubles point behind a pair of 8-4 victories by the top doubles combination of senior Lukas Koncilia and sophomore Kyle Parker and the No. 2 doubles tandem of senior Mickael Boyer and junior Mickael Trintignac for a 1-0 advantage.
Trintignac quickly defeated Georgia State's Thomas Cook in straight sets, 6-2, 6-2, at No. 2 singles, but the Panthers (13-3) would equalize the match at two-all with two wins at the No. 3 and No. 6 lines.
Koncilia, the defending Southern Conference Player of the Year, won a second-set tiebreaker to get past Gabe Townes, 6-1, 7-6 (1), at the top of the order to put the Cougars up 3-2. GSU would force three sets in the last two matches standing and prevailed as Juan Pablo Gutierrez clinched the victory with a 5-7, 7-6 (0), 6-2, win over CofC junior Tom Delme.
"It was a good effort today," CofC head coach Jay Bruner said. "We battled on every court and we have improved a lot since our last match (at UNC Charlotte and Winston-Salem State). Both of our top doubles teams played awesome and we got off to a good start. We were up for most of the match, but the last two matches went into three sets and finished 20 minutes of each other. We will learn from this loss and get back to work in preparation for our road trip to Los Angeles next weekend."
The Cougars will head to the West Coast for a Sunday, March 6, dual match at Loyola Marymount and a Monday, March 7, meeting with Gonzaga in Los Angeles. First serve for both non-conference matches is scheduled for 4:30 p.m. (PT).
UNC Wilmington 6, UNCG 1
WILMINGTON, N.C. - Redshirt freshman Zach Reece remained undefeated in singles play on the dual season, picking up UNCG's lone win in a 6-1 loss at UNC Wilmington on Saturday.
Reece moved to 4-0 on the season with a 7-6, 6-3 win over UNCW's Pedro Mol at No. 6 singles. That was the lone bright spot on the afternoon for the Spartans (4-3), who have lost three of their last four after a 3-0 start.
UNCW (6-2) picked up the doubles point with wins at Nos. 1 and 2. Chris Cooprider and Kinshuk Sharma beat Orcun Seyrek and Ahmet Sarioglu at No. 1, 8-1. Mol and Illia Ziamtsov downed Chanon Varapongsittikul and Timion Meijs at No. 2, 8-6.
Jacob Wright and Yaroslav Litus won No. 3 doubles for the Spartans, gutting out a 9-8 win over Rafael Aita and Michael Periera, taking the tiebreaker, 8-6.
The Seahawks swept the singles action at Nos. 1-5, with Sharma picking up a tough three-setter over Meijs at No. 2, 7-5, 3-6, 7-5. Litus also pushed Cooprider to the limit at No. 3, winning the first set 7-6 (7-5) before dropping set No. 2, 6-2. Cooprider took the win with a 10-8 win in the 1-0 third set.
Periera downed Seyrek at No. 1, 6-1, 6-4, while Ziamtsov handed Varaponsittikul only his second loss of the season at No. 4, 6-2, 6-0.
Sarioglu suffered his first loss of the season at No. 5, dropping a 6-4, 6-3 decision to Aita.
UNCG returns to action on March 5 when it hosts Wofford to open Southern Conference play at 1 p.m.