Georgia State 6, Elon 1
COLUMBIA, S.C. -- With two of its top three players battling illness, the Elon men's tennis squad put up a valiant fight against 69th-ranked Georgia State before falling 6-1 at the USC Indoor Tennis Complex.
The loss dropped the Phoenix to 0-2 on the year while the Panthers improved to 3-0.
The match began with a tightly contested battle for the doubles point. Elon's Jordan Kaufman and Andrew Prince won at number two, defeating Sofiane Chevallier and Ismael Lahlou by an 8-5 score. Georgia State won at number three to force the point to be decided by the number one doubles tandems.
Cameron Silverman and Eric Turner competed hard against Matias Hatem and Victor Valente before the ill pair fell by an 8-6 score, giving the Panthers a 1-0 edge.
Elon's lone point of the match came at number two singles where Stefan Fortmann handed Thomas Cook a loss in straight sets, 6-3, 6-3.
Fighting illness, Silverman took Valente to three sets before falling 6-3, 3-6, 10-6 at the top singles spot. Turner was forced to retire in the first set at number three due to his illness.
At number six, Carlos Arboleda also went three sets before being handed a 6-1, 1-6, 10-3 setback to Lucas Santana.
The Phoenix will next play on Friday, Feb. 3 when it opens its home slate against Tennessee Tech at 1:30 p.m. at the Jimmy Powell Tennis Center.
Gardner-Webb 5, Davidson 2
DAVIDSON, N.C. - The 19th ranked doubles pair of Joe Schafer and Calum Gee started their season off in impressive fashion, but the Davidson Wildcats could not overcome Gardner-Webb in singles play, falling in five of the six matches and lost 5-2 in their season-opener in the Knobloch Tennis Center in men's tennis action.
The loss was the first for Davidson (0-1) in the all-time series to Gardner-Webb (1-2), snapping an eight-match win streak.
Schafer and Gee, the first doubles team in program history to be ranked, got Davidson on the board first when they scored an 8-3 triumph at No. 1 doubles, and the No. 2 team of Chris Mark and Kevin Moore sealed the team point with a 9-8 victory.
Schafer then gave the 'Cats a 2-1 lead in the match when he cruised to a 6-4, 6-4 win at No. 3 over Ernest Alberch. It was the junior's second career win at that spot.
Gardner-Webb though came back and got wins at No. 1, 2, 4, 5 and 6 to earned the win. It could have gone either way as Davidson gave the Runnin Bulldogs a run at the No. 1 and 2 slots. Mark took the first set (6-1) in his match at No. 1, but then lost a tie-breaker in set two. His afternoon ended with a tough 6-3 defeat.
Gee opened up his singles match with a 7-5 win, but saw A. Knutsson-Sundblad come back with a 6-3 win in set two. It came down to the wire in the third set where Gee came up just short, falling in a tie-breaker and lost the match 7-6.
Freshman Nicky Kunz played in his first career collegiate Spring match, starting at No. 4. The first-year player played well, but fell in the end by the score of 7-5, 6-3.
Davidson turns around and travels to South Carolina tomorrow afternoon, Jan. 29, for a 4 p.m. match.
North Florida 6, Georgia Southern 1
STATESBORO, Ga. - The Georgia Southern Men's Tennis team was unable to carry the momentum from its win over Mercer as they fell to #71 North Florida 1-6 on Saturday. The depth of the Osprey roster was too much to overcome for the Eagles on this afternoon.
"UNF showed why they're nationally ranked," said Head Coach Nick Zieziula. "I'm proud of the way the guys fought. We gave ourselves opportunities but committed too many unforced errors to win against a nationally ranked team."
The Eagles began the match in doubles play, where they fought hard but were unable to secure a match victory. Daniel Rush and Sebastien Felt lost 8-5 at #3 doubles, while #1 doubles tandem Matthijs Verdam and Alain Garrido lost 8-4.
Freshman Albert Codina Sala led the singles effort for the Eagles. He scored his first collegiate victory in a ten-point match tiebreaker at #3 singles over Julien Belair, 6-4, 6-7, 18-16. Verdam fought valiantly at #1 singles but lost 4-6, 7-6 (4), 10-4 in his ten-point match tiebreaker to Moritz Buerchner.
Although the Eagles were unable to win today, the 1-1 homestand can still be considered a success. "We took a lot of positive steps this weekend that will prepare us for a tough road trip next weekend," added Zieziula.
The Eagles return to the courts when then hit the road for a three-game swing through Florida next weekend. The first match is on Friday at 2 p.m. when they visit Florida Atlantic. Their next home match is on February 18th at 1 p.m. when they host the Bulldogs of South Carolina State.
Tennessee Tech 4, UNCG 3
MEMPHIS, Tenn. - UNCG got off to a solid start by winning the doubles point, but Tennessee Tech rallied with four singles wins to take a 4-3 decision on neutral ground Saturday as the Spartans dropped their dual opener on the campus of the University of Memphis.
Sophomore Ahmet Sarioglu and freshman Randy Phillips were double winners for the Spartans (0-1), nabbing wins in singles and doubles play.
Sarioglu and senior Orcun Seyrek got the day started right by rolling to an 8-2 win over Syrym Abdukhailikov and Artem Tarasov at No. 1 doubles, but Justin Kirstein and Vasily Eremeev pulled the Golden Eagles (1-3) even with an 8-3 win over UNCG sophomore Jimmy Roueche and freshman Cameron Smith at No. 3.
Phillips and sophomore Chanon Varapongsittikul clinched the point for the Spartans at No. 2, taking an 8-4 win over Alex Chen and Alejandro Augusto Bueno.
In singles play, Phillips put UNCG up 2-0 with a 6-4, 6-2 win over Tarasov at No. 4. Abdukhailikov put TTU on the board with a 6-4, 6-4 win over Seyrek at No. 1, and Bueno evened the match with a 7-5, 7-5 win over Varapongsittikul at No. 3.
Sarioglu made it 3-2 in the Spartans' favor with a gutsy performance at No. 2, overcoming a first-set setback to take a 5-7, 6-2, 6-3 win over Chen.
Kirstein topped Smith at No. 5, 6-2, 6-4, to again draw TTU level, while Eremeev clinched the match at No. 6 with a 6-3, 6-1 win over Roueche.
UNCG returns to action Sunday against the Memphis Tigers at 10 a.m. Eastern time.
Coastal Carolina 6, The Citadel 1
CHARLESTON, S.C. - The Bulldog tennis team dropped their home season-opener against Coastal Carolina, 6-1, on Saturday, Jan. 28, at the Earle Tennis Center.
In doubles the Dogs were unable to fight off the Chanticleers, losing in both the No. 2 and No. 3 spots. The duo of David Orces and Josh Cook started off the day strong by overpowering Danny Heidecker and Garik Yedigarian, 8-4. The Bulldog pair trounced the Chanticleers with their strong serves and poised play.
Captain Orces collected the lone win for the Bulldogs, battling Heidecker in three sets to take the match, 7-5, 5-7, 10-4. After the junior took the early 7-5 lead, Heidecker rallied back to force a tie-break, where Orces dominated to win the point. This fiery rivalry dates back to last season where Heidecker defeated Orces in the second match of the year for the Bulldogs.
Bulldog Head Coach Kemper Baker was enthused with the team's performance.
"Overall I was pleased with the effort of our team today," said Baker. "We still have a relatively young squad and we lack match experience. If we can learn to deal with adversity a little bit better and be more analytical when we compete, I feel as though this group is capable of accomplishing some good things."
The Dogs will return to the courts on Saturday, Feb. 4 to face Presbyterian at 1 p.m., as they compete in their second match of the season playing at the Earle Tennis Center.