Appalachian State 4, UNC Asheville 3
BOONE, N.C. - After falling behind, 3-1, Appalachian State University men's tennis went on to win three-straight singles matches and put away a 4-3 victory over UNC Asheville at Deer Valley Racquet Club on Sunday. The Mountaineers (1-2) earned their first win of the season in front of a rowdy home crowd, while the Bulldogs (0-2) left still seeking a victory in 2012.
"We played a few bad games in doubles," observed head coach Bob Lake, "and some of those mistaked crept into our singles play. Asheville's top three are tough, and Phil [Kloc] did a great job keeping us alive. Our bottom three guys showed just how strong our entire lineup is."
In doubles action, Appalachian's No. 3 pair of Steve Karendal and Andrew McKinnon trailed 4-5 before taking control of the match and winning four straight games to capture an 8-5 win.
UNC Asheville's No. 2 pair of Tom Rees and Adrien Langeard cruised to an 8-4 win, and ASU's top doubles pair, Philip Kloc and Alain Humblet, lost a 6-8 heartbreaker.
In singles, Kloc rebounded with a 6-3, 6-4 victory in the No. 2 spot, while Humblet was downed by a tough UNCA opponent, 4-6, 3-6.
At No. 1 singles, ASU's Alex Markov took his opponent to three sets but was eventually bettered by UNCA's Adrien Langeard, 6-1, 4-6, 6-2. After the first trio of singles matches, the Bulldogs led 3-1 and stood just one point from clinching the match.
In the second wave of singles, Karendal dominated his match at No. 5, shutting out his opponent 6-0, 6-0 and energizing the nearly 100 fans who crowded into the gallery.
Appalachian's Sebastien King won his first set at No. 4, and held his own serve throughout the second. UNCA's Tom Rees kept level and the combatants faced off in the day's only tiebreaker. Though Rees won the showdown, 7-5, King triumphed in the match with a 6-4, 6-7 (5-7), 6-4 win, leveling the team score at 3-3.
In the decisive match, ASU's Matt Saltsgaver took the first set handily but wavered in the second. With the match on the line, Saltsgaver pulled through en route to a 6-3, 3-6, 6-3 win, clinching Appalachian's 4-3 win.
The Mountaineers have a lengthy break before their next match, when they play host to East Carolina on Sat., Feb. 18 at 1 p.m. The venue of the match will be determined and announced in the weeks prior to the contest.
Samford 4, Lipscomb 3
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. --- The Samford University men's tennis team kicked off its 2012 dual-match schedule with a thrilling 4-3 victory Sunday as the Bulldogs used a straight-set singles triumph from Fernando Costa on court No. 4 to defeat the Lipscomb Bison in a non-conference contest held at the Samford Tennis Complex.
"We are happy to start the season off with a win," said Samford head coach Rahim Esmail. "The guys have been working hard lately and it was nice to put that hard work to use today. I give a lot of credit to the way Lipscomb competed. They fought extremely hard and did not give us an inch on any court."
With the overall score of the match knotted at 3-3, all attention shifted to court No. 4 where Samford's Costa and Lipscomb's Colby Shaw battled for the key victory. Costa, the Bulldogs' sophomore from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, secured his team's overall win with a 6-2, 6-4 triumph over Shaw.
"We had our chances in every singles match," said Esmail. "I am happy that we were able to put ourselves in that position. Fernando did a great job of digging deep and closing things out."
Each team tallied three victories in singles play Sunday. The Bulldogs' Zac Dunkle, Elliott Barnwell and Costa were each triumphant, while Lipscomb (1-1) received wins from Oliver Strecker, Daniel Hernandez and Miguel Cortez.
Following quick singles wins from Barnwell and Dunkle, Samford (1-0) held a 3-1 advantage in the match. The Bison then tallied victories on courts No. 5 and No. 6 to even the score at 3-3 heading into Costa's decisive triumph.
Samford earned two wins in doubles play to grab the all-important doubles point.
In the opening portion of Sunday's match, the Bulldogs' combination of Alexander Sajonz and Dunkle tallied an 8-6 win on court No. 1, while Samford's duo comprised of Ryan Shidler and Barnwell clinched the doubles point with an 8-3 victory in the No. 2 doubles contest.
"I think the doubles point was very key today," Esmail said. "Zac and Alex did a great job of turning things around at No. 1 by picking up their energy level and finding a way to win. That was definitely the difference in that match.
The Samford University men's tennis team will next be in action Saturday at 1 p.m. (CST) as the Bulldogs travel to Atlanta for an early non-conference matchup with the Georgia State Panthers.
Middle Tennessee 5, Chattanooga 2
NASHVILLE, Tenn. - The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga men's tennis team dropped a 5-2 match at Middle Tennessee this afternoon. The Mocs posted a pair of singles wins but fall to 2-2 overall.
MTSU swept the doubles point and were not challenged in any of the three matches. Junior Roberto Vieira tied the match at 1-1 when Ben Davis was forced to retire. Davis was leading (6-3, 3-0), but Vieira took the point at No. 1 singles.
Chattanooga forced three, 3-set matches on the day. Junior Jackson Tresnan was the only Moc to pull out a win. He defeated Yannick Born (3-6, 6-3, 1-0 (18-16)) at No. 5 in the last match of the day.
Junior Ankit Chopra had a tough loss at No. 2. He fell to Ettore Zito (3-6, 6-4, 1-0 (12-10)) in three sets. Junior Manuel Barroetavena also dropped a three-setter, losing to Christoph Lang (6-4, 3-6, 6-1) at No. 4.
Tresnan and Chopra's final frame started after the team outcome had already been decided so they played a 10-point super-tiebreaker to decide their matches. Barroetavena's final set started with the team score still on the line, so he played a full set.
The Mocs are back at home on Saturday, Feb. 4, hosting Lipscomb. The match with the Bison is set for 1:00 p.m. (E.S.T.) at the Hixson Racquet Club and a link for live scoring will be available on the men's tennis schedule page on GoMocs.com
Memphis 6, UNCG 1
MEMPHIS, Tenn. - Sophomore Chanon Varapongsittikul won a marathon match at No. 3 singles, but that was UNCG's lone victory of the day as the Spartans fell at No. 46 Memphis on Sunday, 6-1, at The Racquet Club of Memphis.
Varapongsittikul's match was the final one to finish Sunday, and his win kept UNCG (0-2) from getting shut out. After dropping the first set to the Tigers' Joe Salisbury by a 6-2 count, the Bangkok, Thailand, native took a 7-6 (8-6) win in the second set to force a super tiebreaker. There, Varapongsittikul grabbed a 10-8 victory to get the Spartans on the board.
Memphis (3-0) swept through doubles to jump out to the early 1-0 lead. Salisbury and David O'Hare, the 47th-ranked doubles duo in the nation, took an 8-4 win over UNCG's Orcun Seyrek and Ahmet Sarioglu at No. 1.
At No. 2, David Henry and Connor Glennon downed Varapongsittikul and Randy Phillips, 8-2. Cedric De Zutter and Leon Nasemann completed the sweep with an 8-5 win over Cameron Smith and Jimmy Roueche at No. 3.
In singles action, Johnny Grimal pushed the Tigers' lead to 2-0 with a 6-1, 6-3 win over Ahmet Sarioglu at No. 2. David O'Leary made it 3-0 with a 6-1, 6-0 win over Smith at No. 5, and O'Hare, ranked 50th nationally, clinched the match with a 6-1, 6-1 win over Seyrek at No. 1.
Glennon grabbed a 6-4, 6-1 win over Phillips at No. 4 and Henry topped Roueche at No. 6, 6-2, 6-3.
UNCG returns to the courts Saturday when it will host Gardner-Webb at the Piedmont Indoor Tennis Center at 4 p.m.
South Carolina 7, Davidson 0
COLUMBIA, S.C. - Davidson hit the road for its first road contest of the 2012 Spring season and fell 7-0 to host South Carolina as the Gamecocks proved too much on Sunday afternoon in men's tennis action at the USC Indoor Facility.
USC (5-0) won both its matches on the afternoon as it took a 6-1 decision against No. 69 Georgia State in its first match of the day. Davidson (0-2) was playing the Gamecocks for the first time since the 2009 season and remained winless in the all-time series since 1988 at 0-19.
The nationally ranked (#19) doubles pair of Joe Schafer and Calum Gee suffered their first defeat of the year, dropping a close 8-6 contest at No. 1 doubles. USC went on to capture the other two spots to grab a 1-0 lead.
South Carolina then swept all six singles positions in straight sets to earn the team win. Junior Chris Mark came the closest to pushing a third set when he went to a tie-breaker against Ivan Machado at No. 1. The junior went back-and-forth before falling 8-6 in the tie-breaker for a 7-6 defeat in set two after he lost the first set, 6-4.
First-year player Nicky Kunz again played well in just his second collegiate match, but fell in the end 6-3, 6-4 at No. 4.
Schafer and Gee both suffered 6-1, 6-4 setbacks at No. 2 and 3, respectively, while Robert Lightbourn dropped a 6-4, 6-1 decision at No. 5 and Ethan Kallick lost 6-4, 6-0 at No. 6.
Davidson comes back home to start a four-match homestand on Feb. 3 when it plays host to Wingate at 5 p.m.