Men's Tennis Southern Conference

Sunday's Men's Tennis Recaps

Furman 5, Presbyterian 2

GREENVILLE, S.C. -- The Furman men's tennis team snapped a four-match losing streak Sunday, as the Paladins defeated Presbyterian, 5-2, at the Mickel Tennis Center in Greenville, S.C.

The Paladins claimed wins at number one and number three doubles to open the match by clinching the doubles point. Senior Andrew Mellow and junior Joel Cook teamed up to defeat Rafael Berghaus and Grayson Mills, 8-6, in the top spot, and senior Tyler Droll and sophomore Jacob Behal recorded an 8-4 win over Gonzalo Asis and Nathan Crocker at number three. Blue Hose Andrew Brigham and William O'Connell beat freshman Matt Browne and sophomore Richard Casagrande, 8-6, in the second doubles match-up.

In singles action, Browne defeated Brigham, 6-4, 6-2, at number four to give Furman a 2-0 advantage, before Danny Bruce recorded a 6-4, 6-1 victory over Droll in the fifth singles match to put Presbyterian on the board. The Paladins stretched their lead to 3-1 as Behal posted a 6-4, 6-4 win over Berghaus at number three singles, then Furman clinched the team victory when Cook defeated O'Connell, 7-6, 6-3, in the second singles match.

Mellow posted a 6-3 first-set win over Mills in the top singles spot then came from behind for a 7-6 second-set victory, pushing the Paladin lead to 5-1, before Gonzalo defeated senior Robbie Aru, 6-0, 7-6, at number six to give the Blue Hose their second point of the day.

Furman (2-4) will travel to Tuscaloosa, Ala., to face Alabama on Feb. 23.


Georgia Southern 6, Kennesaw State 1

ATLANTA - The Georgia Southern Men's Tennis team took a lead in every match but one, en route of defeating Kennesaw State 6-1 on Sunday afternoon in Atlanta.

"The guy came out with good energy today," said Head Coach Nick Zieziula. "They took the lead in all matches but one and did a much better job finishing those leads and staying sharper throughout the match compared to yesterday."

The Eagles (2-1) and Owls (0-2) played the singles portion first due to a chance of bad weather but were still able to finish the day with doubles play.

The Eagles were lead by senior Matthijs Verdam who clinched the match with a 6-3, 6-3 win over Kennesaw's Tobi Menhofer at the number one spot to give the Eagles a 4-1 lead in the match. He also teamed up with redshirt freshman Carson Jones to win the doubles match at court number three, 8-2, against Nathan She and Matthew Johnson.

"Mathhijs played a great game overall and did a much better job finishing his points than against Georgia State," said Zieziula.

First on the board for the Eagles was Jones, defeating Johnson 6-4, 6-0 at the number six spot. Rayane Djouad continued his strong freshman campaign and claimed the second win of the day, 6-3, 6-2, over Gokalp Ozdemir.

Sophomore Albert Codina Sala increased the Eagles' advantage to 3-0, beating Alexander Pena 6-2, 6-4 at court number three while fellow sophomore Andrew Dromsky was the last one to finish singles on court two, defeating Luis Theodor 7-6 (7-5), 6-4.

Djouad picked up his second win of the day in doubles, teaming up with junior Marco Osorio to beat the Kennesaw duo of Pena and Ozdemir 8-3 at the number one spot, claiming the point for a final score of 6-1.


Charlotte 4, College of Charleston 3

CHARLOTTE, N.C. - The College of Charleston men's tennis team was edged by Charlotte, 4-3, on Sunday afternoon at the Halton-Wagner Tennis Complex.

The Cougars (2-2) had their two-match win streak halted by the 49ers (5-4), who won the doubles point and three of the six singles matches to carry them to the non-conference victory.

Charlotte's Paul Cisti defeated sophomore Charlie Ghriskey in a full three-setter, 1-6, 6-2, 6-2, to claim the deciding fourth point in singles at the No. 4 position.

After the 49ers took the early 1-0 doubles lead, sophomore Alon Faiman (Ramat Hasharon, Israel) leveled the match with a straight-set decision over Kamil Khalil, 6-3, 6-1, at No. 5 singles.

Charlotte would go on to win the next three singles matches to clinch the match victory. Play still continued to finish out the remaining matches on the court as freshman Zack Lewis and sophomore transfer Sebastian Lopez each won second-set tiebreakers at the No. 6 and No. 2 lines respectively.

"We gave ourselves some opportunities to win the fourth point in a couple of spots today," CofC Head Coach Jay Bruner said. "However, Charlotte showed they are a great team by playing better in those moments. We have a lot of work to do this week in practice in preparation for our two road matches next weekend."

CofC will return to action next week with two road matches scheduled at Mercer on Friday, Feb. 22, at 3 p.m. (ET) in Macon, Ga., and at Georgia State on Saturday, Feb. 23 at 11 a.m. (ET) in Atlanta, Ga.


Chattanooga 6, Murray State 1

MURRAY, Ky. - The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga men's tennis team bounced back from Friday's 4-3 home loss to Austin Peay with a 6-1 win at Murray State this afternoon. The Mocs won the doubles point and five of six singles matches to improve to 5-2 on the year.

Chattanooga took two of three doubles to grab a 1-0 lead. The Mocs are 5-0 when winning the doubles point and 0-2 when falling behind after the opening matches.

Seniors Roberto Vieira and Stephen Crofford teamed up for the first time and made quick work of Joao Camara and Tyler Jeffers (8-2) at No. 2. Freshmen Gino Delavalle and John Peacey clinched the point with an 8-6 win over Nicholas Mitric and Mac McLean.

Senior Manuel Barroetavena improved to 7-0 in spring matches with his (6-1, 6-2) win over Jeffers at No. 2. Barroetavena leads the team with a 14-5 singles record. Senior Jackson Tresnan also remained undefeated at 6-0 in the spring with a (6-1, 6-2) win over Mitric at No. 6.

Senior Chris Smith won for the second time in three matches with a three-set victory over Camara. Smith bounced back from a 6-0 loss in the first set to blank Camara 6-0 in the second. Smith then took the third set 6-2.

Sophomore Pavels Grigorjevs and senior Ankit Chopra also had singles wins at No. 4 and No. 5, respectively.

 
The Citadel 7, Benedict 0
The Citadel 7, Spartanburg Methodist 0 

CHARLESTON, S.C. - The Citadel tennis team blanked both Benedict 7-0 and Spartanburg Methodist 7-0 on Sunday at the Earle Tennis Center.

Through six matches the Bulldogs have accumulated a 5-1 record to mark their best start since 1999. The Citadel netters have already matched their win total from a season ago.

In the first doubles action of the day against Benedict, David Orces and Oliver Dedding defeated Zibusiso Ndimande and Shane Latchman 8-0 in the No. 1 position while Peter Bleach and JC Pauli beat Darreus Wheeler and Giovanni Plater 8-2 in the No. 2 slot. Elliott Sperr and Alex Howle were awarded a win by default in the No. 3 spot.

Against Spartanburg Methodist the duo of Sperr and Howle played in the No. 1 position for the first time this season. The Bulldog pair defeated Markus Gattner and Matthew Plummer 8-2 to improve their doubles record to 3-1.

Matt McGill and Pauli successfully paired up for the first time this season as the Bulldog tandem took down Alexander Arkin and Kyle Edwards 8-0. Junior Justin Wycoff made his season debut teaming up with Jackson Pride in the No. 3 position defeating Walter Fowler and Wes Lewis 8-0.

In the No. 1 singles position, Orces went 1-0 on the day with a victory over Benedict's Ndimande 6-2, 6-2. The Bulldog senior climbed to 6-1 on the season.

Bleach netted two more wins to improve to 5-1. In the No. 2 position Bleach defeated Benedict's Shane Latchman 6-0, 6-4 and, competing in the No. 1 slot for the first time this season, Bleach also defeated Gattner from SMC 6-1, 6-0.

Las Vegas native Pauli went 2-0 on the afternoon, defeating the Tigers' Darreus Wheeler 6-2, 6-1 and blanking SMC's Plummer in two sets 6-0, 6-0. In his first year as a Bulldog, Pauli improved to 4-2 to crawl closer to his 6-2 record at Vincennes last season.

Sperr went undefeated with two victories over his opponents to advance to 3-2 overall in singles. The Charleston native downed Plater from Benedict 6-1, 6-1 and the Pioneers' Arkin 6-1, 6-0.

McGill evened his singles record at 1-1 with a win over Timothy Thornton from Benedict 6-1, 6-1 in the No. 5 position.

Pride earned a win by default in his first match of the day against Benedict and rolled past Spartanburg Methodist's Edwards 6-0, 6-0.

Dedding and Wycoff both earned a win with a score of 6-0 6-0 against their Spartanburg Methodist foes in the No. 5 and No. 6 positions, respectively.

After competing in their second doubleheader of the season, the Bulldogs will take a week off before returning to the courts against Coker on Saturday 1 p.m., and Guilford on Sunday at 11 a.m.


Wake Forest 6, Elon 1

WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. - The Elon University men's tennis team dropped a 6-1 decision to the 36th-ranked Wake Forest Demon Deacons on Sunday night, Feb. 10, at the Wake Forest Indoor Tennis Center.

Elon falls to 1-3 on the year, while Wake Forest improves to 9-2.

The maroon and gold battled tough at nearly every position in singles and doubles versus the nationally-ranked Demon Deacons, but could not pull out the road win over its instate rival.

Brian Kowalski earned the lone point for the maroon and gold, topping Sam Bloom in three sets, 4-6, 7-6 (8-6), 1-0 (10-5), at No. 6 singles.

Cameron Silverman, ranked 21st in the nation, lost a hard-fought decision at No. 1 singles versus David Hopkins, falling in three sets, 6-2, 4-6, 1-0 (11-9).

Stefan Fortmann, ranked 117th in the country, fell in three sets against 59th-ranked Amogh Prabhakar, 2-6, 6-3, 7-6 (7-1), in a tight competition.

Rookie Robert Lindgren lost a close match at No. 3 singles to 90th-ranked Danny Kreyman, falling in straight sets, 7-6 (7-1), 6-2.

Elon returns home for a pair of matches on Saturday, Feb. 16, at the Jimmy Powell Tennis Center versus Wingate and Washington & Lee.