Georgia Southern 4, Southern Illinois 3
STATESBORO, Ga. - Georgia Southern Men's Tennis (7-5) won the doubles point, then added three points with victories in the first three singles matches to take the 4-3 win over Southern Illinois (5-2) at the Hanner Tennis Complex. The win over the Salukis brought the Eagles' streak to three matches. Sophomores Juan Melian Puigventos and Matthijs Verdam extended their singles win streaks to five matches in Monday's win.
Delivering the first doubles loss of the season to Southern Illinois' Falk De Beenhouwer and Orhan Spuhic, Verdam and Sebastian Felt posted an 8-1win at the number-three position. At number-two doubles, Melian Puigventos and Edio Castanhel paired up for the 8-3 win over Jorge Cavero and Carlos DoVal and secured the doubles point.
Melian Puigventos dealt SIUC's Adam Fabik his first loss of the season in straight sets, 6-2, 6-3 in the top spot in singles play and clinched the match for the Eagles. Verdam and Castandel also won in straight sets with Verdam surrendering only three games in his 6-3, 6-0 win over De Beenhouwer at number-two singles. No. 6 Castanhel improved his season win total with his 6-4, 6-3 victory over Spuhic.
Southern Illinois bounced back for its three points with wins at No. 3, No. 4 and No. 5 singles, pushing the Eagles to three sets in two of the three matches. SIUC's Brandon Florez and DoVal both rallied from first-set losses for the wins at number-four and number-five singles. Garrido, at the number three-spot for Georgia Southern, evened his match in the second set, but Cavero took the win in the third and final set.
Georgia Southern's homestand continues with a Thursday, March 17th match against Liberty at 2 p.m. The Eagles face Wofford on Saturday, March 19th, at 11 a.m. in a Southern Conference match. Athletics mascot GUS will be in attendance at Saturday's Junior Eagle Day match.
Samford 7, Florida Gulf Coast 0
FORT MYERS, Fla. --- For the second straight day, the Samford University men's tennis team cruised to an easy victory in the state of Florida as the Bulldogs rolled to a 7-0 triumph against the Florida Gulf Coast Eagles in a non-conference matchup held at the FGCU Tennis Complex.
With the victory, Samford (10-3) completed its brief two-match Spring Break road trip with a 2-0 record. On Sunday, the Bulldogs cruised to an 8-1 win against Saint Leo. Samford used both of this week's victories to improve its road record to 2-1 in 2011.
Florida Gulf Coast (2-11) suffered its fourth straight loss Monday. Since earning a 6-1 victory against Ohio Valley Conference opponent SIU-Edwardsville on March 7, the Eagles have dropped consecutive matches versus Georgia Southern 4-2, Kennesaw State 4-3, Mercer 7-0 and Samford 7-0.
In Monday's match, the Bulldogs swept the doubles play and then earned all six wins in the singles competition.
Highlighting doubles play was Samford's combination of Zac Dunkle and Alexander Sajonz winning its fourth straight match and improving its near-perfect record on the season to 11-1. The Bulldogs' Dunkle and Sajonz tallied an 8-3 victory on court No. 2, while teammates Carl Abalos and Oliver Reynolds knocked off Florida Gulf Coast's tandem of Matthew Rock and Collin Brown 8-4 on court No. 1.
With their victory, Abalos and Reynolds improved to 10-2 in doubles play this season.
In Monday's singles competition, Samford's Carson Kadi, Dunkle, Abalos, Reynolds and Fernando Costa all breezed to straight-set victories, while Sajonz tallied a walkover defeat in the match on court No. 6.
Kadi, the Bulldogs' All-Southern Conference performer from New Orleans, La., improved his team-best singles record to 10-2, while Abalos, Dunkle, and Reynolds all moved to 9-3. Sajonz, Samford's sophomore transfer from Auburn University, remained at 9-2 since Monday's walkover didn't count towards his seasonal record.
The Samford University men's tennis team will next be in action Sunday at 10 a.m. (CDT) as the Bulldogs return to Southern Conference play with a home match against The Citadel Bulldogs to be held at the Samford Tennis Center.
College of Charleston 5, Jacksonville State 2
CHARLESTON, S.C. - College of Charleston men's tennis won its second straight match at Patriots Point on Monday afternoon, earning a 5-2 victory over Jacksonville State.
"I was proud of the way the team kept their poise and stayed focused on their intensity for the complete match," head coach Jay Bruner said. "Coach Bailey always has his teams ready to compete and they jumped on us in the doubles."
The Gamecocks (5-7, 1-1 OVC) won two of the three doubles matches to take a 1-0 lead going into singles competition. Senior Mickael Boyer (Meudon, France) and junior Mickael Trintignac (Le Cannet, France) won their fifth doubles match of the year with an 8-6 victory over Igor Santos and Felipe Watanabe at the No. 3 spot.
Boyer and Trintignac were also successful in singles competition. Boyer got the Cougars (6-4, 1-0 SoCon) on the board with an easy 6-0, 6-1 triumph over Gustavo Holz at the No. 5 spot. Sophomore Stephen Hardy (Fairfax, Va.) gave CofC a lead it never relinquished with a 6-1, 6-2 win as the sixth seed.
"It was another good performance from Mickael Boyer today in singles and doubles," Bruner said. "Stephen Hardy also helped us get the first lead of the match today."
Trintignac and junior Tom Delme (Hamoir, Belgium) distanced themselves from Jacksonville State with wins at the second and third spot, respectively. Senior Lukas Koncilia closed out the match with a three-set tiebreak win over Kenyon at the top spot, 6-2, 6-7 (4), 12-10.
The win is the second for the Cougars over the Gamecocks (5-7, 1-1 OVC) in as many years.
College of Charleston will shift its focus to preparing for its final of a four-match homestand against Buffalo on Friday afternoon at 2 p.m.