UNCG 5, East Carolina 2
GREENSBORO, N.C. - UNCG's men's tennis team took a 5-2 win over East Carolina on Wednesday, picking up its seventh straight victory.
The Spartans (11-3) got on the board first by winning a hotly contested doubles point. Ahmet Sarioglu and Chanon Varapongsittikul got things going with an 8-6 win over Nathan Smiley and Massimo Mannino at No. 3. The Pirates pulled even with Joran Vliegen and Jaroslav Horvath's 8-6 win over Orcun Seyrek and Timion Meijs at No. 1, but Yaroslav Litus and Jacob Wright secured the doubles point for UNCG with a 9-7 win over Henrik Skalmerud and Stian Tvedt at No. 2.
Vliegen got ECU (10-5) on the board with a 6-4, 6-2 win over Litus at No. 3, but Varapongsittikul wrapped up a 6-2, 6-1 win over Skalmerud at No. 5 just moments later to put UNCG up 2-1.
Sarioglu topped John Schmitt at No. 4, 6-2, 6-4, to put the Spartans on the brink of the win, and Meijs clinched the victory with a 6-2, 6-3 win over Horvath at No. 2.
Seyrek, the reigning Southern Conference Player of the Week, completed his 6-1, 6-3 win over Mannino at No. 1 just seconds after Meijs wrapped up, putting UNCG up 5-1.
Tvedt downed Zach Reece at No. 6 singles 7-6 (7-4), 6-4 for the final margin.
"I think we played very well," UNCG coach Thomas Mozur said. "They've beaten us 4-3 the last two years, so there's a little bit of in-state pride to the match, and some recruiting battles to go along with it, as well. I think we played well and we got the 'W'."
UNCG returns to action Friday at Appalachian State. That match is set to begin at 2 p.m.
Chicago 5, The Citadel 2
CHARLESTON, S.C. - The Citadel Tennis team (1-15) dropped a 5-2 decision to the University of Chicago onWednesday, March 23 at the Earle Tennis Center.
The Maroons (11-2) took an early 1-0 lead with a sweep at all three doubles positions. Troy Brinker and Neil Karandikar gave Chicago the advantage after defeating Dillon Berkabile and Jeremiah Dye at the No. 2 doubles position, 8-1. With a heated battle underway at the remaining courts, Harrison Abrams and Krishna Ravella stayed close on the heels of James Atkinson and Elliott Sperr as the Bulldogs led majority of the match on court three. However, the Maroons rallied from behind to seal the doubles point in a tiebreaker 9-8 (7-0). The tandem of Jan Stefanski and Zsolt Szabo captured the Maroons sweep as they edged Derek Dickey and David Orces 9-8 (7-5).
Chicago continued their hot swinging as they stretched their lead with wins at singles No. 2, 3, 4 and 6. Szabo defeated Berkabile, 1-6, 6-1, 7-5 at the No. 2 spot, while Brinker downed Dickey at the No. 3 position, 6-1, 6-1. At the No 4 slot, Alex Golovin topped Atkinson, 6-2, 3-6, 6-3 and Stefanski beat Sperr, 6-1, 6-2 at No. 6.
Orces captured his second consecutive victory in two straight sets. He downed Will Zhang 6-4, 6-2 while competing at the top position. Junior Josh Cook also tallied a win for the Bulldogs has he battled Kunal Pawa in three sets at the No. 5 spot. Cook won the first set, 7-5, but fell in the second set by a narrow margin of 7-6 (10-8). Cook rallied for the win in the final set, a super-tiebreak, 10-5.
The Bulldogs will conclude their two-match home series with Southern Conference foe Georgia Southern on Friday, March 25 at 2:30 p.m.