Chattanooga 5, Jacksonville State 2
The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga men's tennis team battled Jacksonville State to a 5-2 win at the Champions Club today. The Mocs equaled last year's win total, improving to 8-2 overall, while JSU dropped to 2-7.
"This was a good win for us," stated head coach Carlos Garcia. "Their record may not be where ours is right now, but they are improving. In a few weeks, we will look back on this one as a big win.
Chattanooga won the doubles point for the fourth-straight match with wins at No. 2 and No. 3. Junior Jackson Tresnan and freshman Pavels Grigorjevs won their fourth straight at No. 3. Juniors Manuel Barroetavena and Roberto Vieira made it two in a row as a tandem at No. 2.
Grigorjevs put UTC up 2-0 with a quick win at No. 6. He defeated Felipe Diaz (6-2, 6-2) in just over an hour. It was his fourth-straight win, evening his overall tally to 6-6, 4-2 at No. 6 this spring.
The Gamecocks closed the gap to 2-1 when Igor Santos defeated UTC junior Chris Smith at No. 2. That loss snapped a five-match winning streak for Smith who is 7-2 at No. 2. Vieira put UTC up 3-1 with his (6-3, 6-2) win over Axel Sundberg at No. 1. He leads the team with an 11-7 singles record and is 7-3 at No. 1.
Barrotavena capped off a strong day, clinching the match with a win at No. 4. He posted a (6-2, 6-4) victory over Jordan Cowling to improve to 10-6 overall, 5-2 in the fourth slot.
"Manuel played really well today," added Garcia. "He got that No. 2 doubles team going and had a solid win in singles. If I had to pick an MVP today, it would be him."
JSU scored its last point with a three-set win at No. 3. Tresnan closed out the day with a (6-2, 7-6 (7-5)) win at No. 5. He is 9-1 in the spring, 7-0 at No. 5 and is riding a nine-match winning streak. His run is the longest by a Moc since current assistant coach Peter Sauska won 11-straight in 2007.
The Mocs will take nine days off before opening Southern Conference action at Elon on March 10. The next home match is set for Thursday, March 15 against Georgia Southern at the UTC Tennis Courts.
Winthrop 7, UNCG 0
ROCK HILL, S.C. - UNCG's men's tennis team suffered a 7-0 setback at Winthrop on Thursday.
Orcun Seyrek and Ahmet Sarioglu picked up the lone win of the day for the Spartans (3-5), topping Nadav Ruppin and Guy Kubin at No. 1 doubles, 8-6.
UNCG very nearly pulled out the doubles point at No. 2, but Dylan Comerford and Rich Meade earned the 9-7 win over the Spartans' Randy Phillips and Chanon Varapongsittikul. Yuta Hirokawa and Luka Stanic downed Jimmy Roueche and Cameron Smith at No. 3 as the Eagles clinched the point.
Winthrop made a clean sweep of it in singles play, with Nos. 2 and 3 going to super tiebreakers. At No. 2, Kubi rebounded from a first-set loss to top Sarioglu, 4-6, 6-1, 1-0. Comerford also overcame a first-set loss to Varapongsittikul at No. 3, taking the 6-7, 6-2, 1-0 win.
At No. 1, Ruppin topped Seyrek, 6-0, 6-4. Hirokawa dropped Phillips 6-1, 6-4 at No. 4, Stanic defeated Smith at No. 5, 6-3, 6-2, and Meade took a 6-4, 6-4 win over Roueche at No. 6.
UNCG returns to action March 4 when it opens Southern Conference play at Georgia Southern at noon