Chattanooga 4, Gardner-Webb 3
CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. - The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga men's tennis team posted its third straight win of the spring season today. The Mocs defeated Gardner-Webb 4-3 at the Hixson Racquet Center, improving to 5-2 overall.
Chattanooga gets its second one-point win of the weekend after downing Belmont by the same score on Friday. The Mocs won three matches that went to a tiebreaker in the victory, dropping Gardner-Webb to 2-4 overall.
"Once again I am very pleased with how our guys gutted out some close matches," stated Head Coach Carlos Garcia. "This was as close as you can get to a conference match. We are getting some excellent preparation for a tough Southern Conference schedule."
All but two matches on the day were hotly contested, beginning with a very competitive doubles point. UTC had won two straight without taking the doubles matches, but they ended that streak today.
GWU took the No. 2 doubles with Ernest Albrech and Matthew Parker defeated juniors Ankit Chopra and Stephen Crofford 8-5. Juniors Chris Smith and Roberto Vieira evened it up with an 8-5 win of their own at No. 1.
The final doubles match was a battle at No. 3 between UTC's junior Jackson Tresnan and freshman Pavels Grigorjevs and Gardner-Webb's Brendan Dempsey and Blake Dunlap. The two teams went back and forth with Chattanooga answering each time GWU moved ahead. Chattanooga eventually tied the match at 8, sending the teams to a seven-point breaker. The Mocs dominated the final frame 7-2, to win the match and take the team point.
The first singles were the only ones not to go the full three sets. Dempsey tied the match for the Bulldogs with a (6-0, 6-0) win over Crofford at No. 6. Tresnan put UTC back up 2-1 with his (6-2, 6-0) win over Joao Poli at No. 5. Tresnan improved to 6-1 on the year and a perfect 5-0 at No. 5.
Things got very interesting the rest of the way. Chopra was locked into a three-setter with Albrech at No. 3. He won the first 6-3, before dropping the second 6-3. He went up 3-0 in the final, but Albrech eventually tied it at six-all to force a tiebreaker. Chopra used a big serve to control the final frame (7-4), nailing an ace on the game-winner to put UTC up 3-1.
Chattanooga needed one more win in any of the three matches still on the court. Things didn't look to good for the Mocs, down a set at No. 1 and No. 5 and trailing 5-2 in the third at No. 2.
Smith, playing the No. 2 spot for Chattanooga against GWU's Adam Knutsson, took a look around, saw what was going on and turned up the intensity in his match. "I saw how we were doing and I knew I could not lose this point. I did not want to give them a chance to get back into the match."
Smith won the next three matches and then forced a tiebreaker at six-all. He fought off six match points in the tiebreaker. Trailing 6-3, we won three straight points. He then gave up the advantage three more times before finally winning 11-9. That sealed the team win for UTC while Smith improved to 5-1 at No. 2 in spring action.
Both Vieira and junior Maneul Barroetavena went on to lose in straight sets at No. 1 and No. 3, respectively. That ended the scoring at 4-3.
Chattanooga is back at home next weekend, hosting North Alabama. Match time is set for 1:00 p.m. (E.S.T.) on Saturday, Feb. 18.
Princeton 5, Elon 1
WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. - The Elon men's tennis team hosted the 70th-ranked Princeton Tigers on Sunday morning, suffering a 5-1 loss to the visiting Ivy League foe at the Wake Forest Indoor Tennis Center. The match was moved to the campus of Wake Forest due to the blustery and cold weather conditions. Elon dropped on 1-4 overall while Princeton moved to 2-4 on the year.
Elon's lone point came from rookie Stefan Fortmann's three-set victory over Augie Bloom at number two singles. Fortmann dropped the first set, 5-7, but rebounded to win the match, 5-7, 6-3, 6-2. Fortmann is 3-2 in dual matches this season.
The teams began competition with singles action and since the match was determined, the squads did not compete in doubles.
Elon was forced to play without lone senior Eric Turner who suffered an injury in yesterday's match at Wake Forest. Princeton won the other five singles matches in straight sets, Yohei Shoji providing the first Tiger point with a 6-2, 6-2 victory over Jordan Kaufman on court four. Matt Spindler topped Elon freshman Juan Madrid, 6-1, 6-4, with Madrid playing at number three for the first time in his career.
At number one, Cameron Silverman suffered a 6-3, 6-3 defeat to 46th-ranked Matija Pecotic. Princeton's Zack McCourt provided the match-clinching victory, posting a 6-3, 6-3 win against Carlos Arboleda on court five. The Tigers earned their final point from Dan Richardson's 7-5, 6-3 decision over Andrew Prince at number six.
Elon will host Gardner-Webb at The Jimmy Powell Tennis Center next Saturday, February 18 at 1:30 p.m.
East Carolina 7, Georgia Southern 0
GREENVILLE, N.C. - Road woes continued for the Georgia Southern Men's Tennis team on Sunday afternoon. The Eagles played tight matches but were blanked at the hands of the East Carolina Pirates, 7-0. The win is the Pirates' seventh in their last eight contests, while the Eagles have now dropped six straight, five of them being on the road.
The Eagles (1-6) fell behind early in the match by losing the doubles point. The Pirates notched quick victories at No. 1 and No. 3 doubles by identical 8-1 scores. Alain Garrido and Andrew Dromsky's match at No. 2 doubles went unfinished because the doubles point had already been decided.
Singles play didn't garner any winning results for the Eagles, either. The headline of the day, as it has been for much of the season, was the inability to pull through in close matches. Three of them were lost after splitting sets. Dromsky jumped out to an early lead but lost a pair of tiebreakers in his match at #4 singles to fall, 2-6, 7-6 (7-1), 10-4. His fellow freshman, Daniel Rush, lost in a ten-point match tiebreaker as well at No. 5 singles, 6-3, 6-7 (3-7), 10-7. Freshman Albert Codina Sala had a similar fate at #3 singles, winning the first set but falling by a score of 4-6, 6-1, 6-4. The fourth freshman starter at singles, Kyle Hoffman, lost at No. 2 singles by a score of 6-4, 6-2.
"We've got to get back and take care of some injuries and clear up some illness, but above all else we've got to get tougher mentally," said Head Coach Nick Zieziula. "We need to do a better job of sticking with simple, consistent game plans."
The Eagles hope their fortunes will turn around when they return home for a weekend series at the newly renovated Hanner Tennis Complex. Matches are slated to start on Saturday at 1 p.m. against South Carolina State and Sunday at noon against Kennesaw State.
NC State 7, UNCG 0
RALEIGH, N.C. - UNCG's men's tennis team dropped a 7-0 decision at No. 51 NC State on Sunday at the J.W. Isenhour Tennis Center.
Off to its best start since 2007, the Wolfpack (10-1) swept through doubles and singles play for its sixth straight win.
Ivan Sanchez Gomez and Rafael Paez set the tone for the day by downing UNCG's Jimmy Roueche and Cameron Smith at No. 3 doubles, 8-1. Dominic Hodgson and Matt Thomson earned an 8-5 win over Randy Phillips and Chanon Varapongsittikul at No. 2 to clinch the point, and Julian Sullivan and Sean Weber completed the doubles sweep with an 8-4 win over Ahmet Sarioglu and Orcun Seyrek at No. 1.
In singles, play, Sullivan dropped Sarioglu at No. 2, 6-2, 6-3. Seyrek won his first three games over Robbie Mudge at No. 1, but Mudge came back for the 6-4, 6-0 win. Beck Bond clinched the match for NC State at No. 4, eking out a 7-6 (7-3) win over Phillips in the first set before taking a 6-1 victory in the second.
Varapongsittikul put up a good fight at No. 3, but Weber claimed a 6-4, 7-5 win. Gomez claimed a 6-2, 6-0 victory over Smith at No. 5 and Paez finished off the Spartans with a 6-0, 6-1 win over Roueche at No. 6.
UNCG (2-3) hosts Charlotte at the UNCG Tennis Courts on Friday at 2 p.m.