Elon 4, Samford 2
CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. -- In facing its second nationally-ranked opponent in as many days Saturday, the No. 65 Samford University men’s tennis team dropped a 4-2 decision against Southern Conference-rival and No. 46-ranked Elon Phoenix on the final day of the 2014 ITA Kick-Off Weekend hosted by the University of Virginia at the Boyd Tinsley Courts at the Boar's Head Sports Club.
Samford (1-2) concluded the prestigious kick-off weekend with an 0-2 record, but garnered invaluable experience with back-to-back matches against nationally-ranked foes No. 56 Indiana and No. 46 Elon (1-1). On Friday, the Bulldogs were defeated by Indiana, 6-1.
In Saturday’s rematch of the 2013 SoCon Tournament championship, the Phoenix swept the all-important doubles competition to take an early 1-0 lead.
Samford bounced back with a pair of victories from Fares Kilani and Trey Carter in singles play, but Elon held tough at the bottom of its lineup and also received a come-from-behind triumph from 25th-ranked Cameron Silverman on court No. 1 to clinch the 4-2 victory, 4-6, 6-1, 6-5.
In the highly-anticipated No. 1 singles matchup, the Bulldogs’ Elliot Barnwell nearly toppled his second-consecutive nationally-ranked opponent of the weekend. On Saturday, he jumped out to a 6-4 triumph in the first set against Silverman before the Phoenix’s ace bounced back to take the next two frames.
On Friday, Barnwell knocked off Indiana’s 80th-ranked Sven Lalic in straight sets, 6-5, 6-3. The victory proved to be his biggest of the young 2013-14 campaign.
Kilani, Samford’s talented native of Tunis, Tunisia, cruised past Elon’s Stefan Fortmann, 6-2, 6-2, on court No. 2 to pick up the Bulldogs’ first point of the match, while Carter tallied a straight-set victory over the Phoenix’s Brian Kowalski, 6-2, 6-4, in the No. 4 singles contest.
The 2014 ITA Kick-Off Weekend serves as a qualifying tournament for next month's ITA National Team Indoor Championships in Houston, Texas. The winners of the 15 ITA Kick-Off Weekend sites around the nation will join host Texas A&M in this year's tournament.
Adding to the excitement, the 2014 ITA Kick-Off Weekend is currently the first national tournament to use the new, experimental formats decided upon by the ITA Division Operating Committee.
The Operating Committee is comprised of 36 men's and women's head coaches, and represents all 12 ITA regions and 13 of the conferences across the country. The ITA Rankings are well represented on the Operating Committee. Five Top 10 and 21 Top 50 teams are coached by Operating Committee members. In addition, 12 coaches outside the Top 50 are members of the committee.
The teams will play sets in all matches to six games, but with tiebreakers at 5-all and no-ad scoring. All third sets for men's singles will be played out unless the team match is decided.
Chattanooga 4, Tennessee Tech 2
CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. - The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga men’s tennis team posted a 4-2 win over Tennessee Tech at the Hixson Racquet Club today. The Mocs evened their record at 1-1 while the Golden Eagles dropped to 0-2.
Chattanooga lost the doubles point, but stormed back with wins in four of five singles matches. TTU is the two-time defending Ohio Valley Regular Season Champions, but Chattanooga has taken the non-conference matchup in each of the last three seasons.
“It was good to see us battle today,” stated head coach Carlos Garcia. The doubles point was very close, but we bounced back and came out strong in singles. We got challenged again at the end, but were able to come out on top with a very big win.”
Teams used experimental rules for this non-league match. Adjustments included no ad-scoring, doubles matches to six, and all tiebreakers at 5-all instead of 6-all. Coaches can also end remaining doubles and singles matches once the point or dual is decided.
All three doubles were tightly contested. Each one stood a 5-4 with the Mocs leading at No. 1. Senior Jorge Varon and sophomore John Peacey closed out their win, but UTC dropped to other two to fall behind 1-0.
Chattanooga opened singles with five first-set wins. Junior Pavels Grigorjevs, the only top-6 returner from last season, was down 4-2 in his opening frame against Vasily Eremeev. He came back to tie the set at 5-5 and won the ensuing tiebreaker 7-4.
Peacey was first off the court with a (6-2, 6-2) win over Alvaro Cintas at No. 6. Grigorjevs gave the Mocs the 2-1 lead when he finished off Eremeev (6-5 (4), 6-2) at No. 2.
TTU was able to tie the team score at 2-2 with a win at No. 1. Oleksiy Arovin posted a (6-2, 6-3) win over Varon in the top spot.
Sophomore Gino Delavalle responded with a (6-2, 6-4) win over Gagan Jain at No. 4. With two matches left, Chattanooga needed one to close out the team victory. Things were looking good for UTC, up a set in both and on-serve in the second set in each match.
Freshman Derrick Brown eventually gave up a break to Artem Tarasov at No. 5 and moved on to a third set. Sophomore Luke Saunders went up 4-2, and led 5-4, before Alberto Esteban forced a tiebreaker. Saunders got ahead 4-2 in the extra frame, but Esteban railed to take a 5-4 lead. Fortunately for the Mocs, Saunders won the next three points and gave Chattanooga the win.
UTC hits the road next weekend for visits to Memphis and Austin Peay. The next home match is a Feb. 7 contest with Belmont at the Hixson Racquet Club at 5:00 p.m.
Presbyterian 6, The Citadel 1
Presbyterian 7, The Citadel 0
Charleston, S.C. – The Citadel tennis team fell to Presbyterian, 7-0 and 6-1, in a doubleheader on Saturday in the first pair of home matches at the Earle Tennis Center.
The Blue Hose went up early in the first match, claiming the doubles points in all three positions. Peter Bleach went to three sets against Rafael Berghaus at No. 2 singles, but fell 6-4, 5-7, 6-1.
In the second match, Dillon Berkabile earned a 7-5, 4-6, 6-3 win over Ben Kelley at No. 3 singles.
Head Coach Chuck Kriese was pleased with the competiveness his Bulldogs continue to show.
"The team is progressing each day," said Kriese. "In tennis you have to pay a lot of dues to get to where you want to go, and we are getting closer with each match."
The Bulldogs travel to Conway, S.C., tomorrow to take on Coastal Carolina at the Billy Nichols Tennis Center at 1 p.m.