Jacksonville State 5, The Citadel 2
CHARLESTON, S.C. - The Citadel Tennis team fought hard but came up short as Jacksonville State downed the Bulldogs, 5-2, on Tuesday afternoon at the Earle Tennis Center.
The match began with an early battle at doubles play. Jacksonville State's Igor Santos and Felipe Watanbe captured the first win on court three by a score of 8-2 over Jeremiah Dye and Dillon Berkabile. At No. 2 doubles James Atkinson and Josh Cook looked to even the score as they lead majority of the match. Down 6-5 JSU's Nenad Marcec and Axel Sundberg wouldn't back down and rallied for two straight points to take a 7-6 lead. The Gamecock duo captured the final point and sealed the doubles victory for Jacksonville State. In a heated battle at the top spot, the Bulldogs and Gamecocks split each point throughout the match neither leading by more than one at a time. The Citadel's Derek Dickey and David Orces sat on a 7-6 lead before Brian Kenyon and Gustavo Holz leveled the match at seven all. The match went into a tiebreak where the two tandems again traded points. However Kenyon and Holz rallied for the 7-5 victory to sweep the doubles point.
Orces evened the match at one all as he earned a victory at the No. 1 singles position for the Bulldogs (1-12). Orces dominated JSU's Kenyon in the first set, 6-0, and took an early 4-1 lead before Kenyon retired.
The Gamecocks (6-7) regained the lead and held a 3-1 advantage after collecting wins at the No. 4 and 5 singles matches. JSU sealed the match victory when Axel Sundberg edged Dillon Berkablie 6-4, 6-4 on court No. 2.
The match concluded with a battle at the No. 6 and 3 positions. Defeated in the first set 6-1, Elliott Sperr forced Eric Matthieson to a tiebreak in the second set. Sperr began the set in front, 4-3, but Matthieson would soon follow and take a 5-4 lead. The two split the point from there and finally with the score tied at six each, used a tiebreaker to decide the second set. Matthieson never trailed during the tiebreak and finished with a 7-6(4) win.
At the No. 3 spot, Atkinson and Marcec played the match splitting each point until the very end. After falling behind with three straight points, Atkinson tied it at five apiece and then took possession of the lead just before the next break. Marcec once again knotted the score at six all but Atkinson came out of the first set with a 7-5 victory. Atkinson then cruised to a 6-2 win in the second set giving the Bulldogs the final point of the match.
Buffalo 5, Furman 2
GREENVILLE, S.C. - Buffalo defeated Furman, 5-2, Tuesday afternoon in men's tennis action at the Mickel Tennis Center in Greenville, S.C. The Paladins picked up singles wins from senior Sawyer Duncan and sophomore Andrew Mello, and Duncan and Mellow combined for a doubles win for Furman.
Duncan defeated Wojciech Starakiewic, 6-4, 6-3, in the top singles match, while Mellow posted a come-from-behind, 0-6, 7-5, 7-5, victory over Vusa Hove in the number two singles match. The Rams won the lower four singles matches, with Marcelo Mazzetto beating senior Andrei Chvetsov, 7-5, 7-6(5), 6-3 at number three singles, and Jason Simon notching a 3-6, 6-2, 6-3 victory over freshman Alex Christ in the number four match-up. Alex Kalinin beat sophomore Tyler Droll, 6-2, 6-2, at number five singles, and Mitch Zenaty recorded a 7-6(6), 6-2, win over freshman Joel Cook in the sixth singles match.
In doubles action, Duncan and Mellow combined for an 8-6 win over Starakiewic and Zenaty at number one doubles. Buffalo clinched the doubles points with wins at number two and three doubles, as Mazzetto and Travis Zappia beat Cook and Christ, 9-7, in the second doubles match, and Hove and Kalinin teamed up for an 8-0 win over Chvetsov and Marco Aru in the third doubles match.
Furman (2-12, 1-1 SoCon) will play host to Army Thursday at 3 p.m. at the Mickel Tennis Center in Greenville, S.C.