UNCG 6, Richmond 1
GREENSBORO, N.C. - The UNCG men's tennis team remained undefeated with a solid 6-1 victory against Atlantic 10 member Richmond Sunday afternoon at the Piedmont Indoor Tennis Center.
"I'm proud of the team today," said head coach Thomas Mozur. "It was good for Ahmet to get a solid win at one singles and a victory at three doubles. We still need to stay hungry and strive to improve."
UNCG (3-0) started the match off right by winning all three doubles matches to take a 1-0 lead in the match.
Freshman James Dougherty teamed up with sophomore Randy Phillips to win 8-2 against Jesse Feder and Sebastien Fauchet.
Junior Ahmet Sarioglu and freshman Daniel Mack won in an easy 8-1 win against Dylan Trent and Aaron Wicker.
Freshman Gaston Murray and sophomore Cameron Smith picked up the final doubles match victory against Ethan Dunbar and Paul Nahon in a close tiebreaker, 8-7 (8-6).
In singles, Sarioglu fought in a second set tiebreaker against Dunbar to win, 6-3, 7-6 (7-4), while Dougherty defeated Feder, 7-5, 6-1.
Murray went head to head with Nahon, but dropped the match 6-3, 6-2.
Phillips beat Trent 7-5, 6-3, while Mack beat Fauchet, 6-3, 6-2. Smith also earned a Spartan victory in singles against Aaron Wicker, 6-0, 6-1.
UNCG returns to action against UNC Asheville Sunday, Feb. 24 in Asheville, N.C. at 3 p.m.
USC Upstate 4, Georgia Southern 1
SPARTANBURG, S.C. - The Georgia Southern Men's Tennis team wasn't able to continue their successful streak as they lost 4-1 to USC Upstate on a chilly Sunday afternoon in Spartanburg, S.C. Freshman Rayane Djouad was the only Eagle to capture a win on the day.
"Today's match was very disappointing," said Head Coach Nick Zieziula. "We were not disciplined enough point in and point out to stay on top of our tactics and block out distractions. We need to use this disappointment to fuel our training and continue trying to improve each day."
Djouad continued a strong start to his Eagle career, winning his team-leading fourth singles match. The rookie claimed the win against Upstate's Ramon Simonetti in straight sets (6-1, 6-3) on court four and has now been undefeated since the start of the year.
The Eagles (3-2) trailed early as the Spartans (4-5) earned the doubles point when they won a hard fought battle on court three. Senior Matthijs Verdam and junior Oliver Webb battled Jamie Yates and Jacob Darling too the wire but couldn't convert and fell 8-6.
Behind by two, Djouad was able to close the gap to 2-1 but the Eagles dropped the next two, giving the Spartans the points necessary to claim the match.