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Friday's Men's Tennis Championships Roundup
#1 College of Charleston 4, #8 Chattanooga 0
CHARLESTON, S.C. - The College of Charleston men's tennis team earned a 4-0 victory over Chattanooga in the quarterfinals of the Southern Conference men's tennis tournament Friday morning. The top-seeded Cougars improved to 16-4 with the win, while Chattanooga's season ends at 13-9.
The Cougars opened the day by capturing the doubles point with wins at No. 2 and No. 3. Tom Delme and Billy Kenny scored an 8-4 win over Chattanooga's Manuel Barroetavena and Jackson Tresnan. Alon Faiman and Stephen Hardy then beat Ankit Chopra and Stephen Crofford by a similar score to give the top-seeded Cougars the point
Kyle Parker came away with a 6-0, 6-2 victory over Chris Smith at No. 3 singles to push CofC ahead 2-0. Tom Delme won 6-3, 6-4 over Manuel Barroetavena at No. 2 singles to push CofC's lead to 3-0 in the match.
Sophomore Crescente Lesser scored a straight-sets win (7-6, 6-4) over Ankit Chopra to give the Cougars their fourth point.
#5 Furman 4, #4 UNCG 1
The fifth-seeded Furman Paladins downed No. 4 UNCG 4-1 in the quarterfinals of the SoCon Men's Tennis Tournament Friday. The Paladins advance to Saturday's semifinals where they will take on College of Charleston at 8:30 a.m.
Furman (9-14-1) began singles play with a 1-0 lead in the match after capturing the doubles point. Tyler Droll cruised to a straight-sets victory over Jimmy Roueche (6-2, 6-0) at No. 6 to push Furman ahead, 2-0.
The Spartans (9-13) got on the board when Randy Phillips beat Jacob Behal at No. 4 by a 6-2, 6-2 count.
Alex Christ gave Furman a 3-1 lead in the match with a straight sets win over Ahmet Sarioglu (6-2, 6-2) at No. 2. In a matchup of two all-conference performers at No. 1 singles, Furman's Andrew Mellow topped Orcun Seyrek 7-5, 6-3 to give Furman its fourth point.
The Paladins won two of the three doubles contests to earn the point. UNCG's top tandem of Orcun Seyrek and Ahmet Sarioglu beat Alex Christ and Joel Cook 8-4, but the Paladins came away with victories at No. 2 and No. 3. Tyler Droll and Andrew Mellow downed Randy Phillips and Chanon Varapongsittikul 8-4 at No. 2 while Jacob Behal and Luke Synn topped Cameron Smith and Jimmy Roueche, 8-4, at No. 3, 8-4.
#2 Samford 4, #10 Georgia Southern 1
The Samford Bulldogs topped Georgia Southern 4-1 to advance to the semifinals of the 2012 Southern Conference Men's Tennis Championships Friday afternoon. After capturing the doubles point, the Bulldogs picked up points at the top three positions of the order to claim the win.
The Bulldogs (16-4) scored wins at No. 2 and No. 3 doubles to earn the point. GSU struck first in doubles play as Alain Garrido and Andrew Dromsky beat Alexander Sajonz and Zac Dunkle at No. 1, 8-4. Carson Kadi and Fernando Costa beat Derrick Davison and Daniel Rush 8-4 at No. 3, while Ryan Shidler and Elliot Barnwell beat Matthijs Verdam and Kyle Hoffman 8-3 at No. 2 to seal the point for Samford.
Samford picked up wins at No. 1 and No. 2 singles to push ahead 3-0. Dunkle beat Garrido 6-2, 6-1 at the top of the lineup before Kadi topped Dromsky in straight sets (6-4, 6-3).
Georgia Southern (3-20) got on the board when Albert Codina Sala beat Garrison Laduca 6-2, 6-1 at No. 6.
Elliot Barnwell then topped Kyle Hoffman 6-3, 6-1 to clinch the match for Samford.
#3 Appalachian State 4, #6 Elon 3
In a four-hour match that saw numerous momentum swings, No. 3 seed Appalachian State pulled out a 4-3 win over No. 6 Elon Friday afternoon at the Southern Conference Men's Tennis Tournament. The Mountaineers advance to the semifinals and will face Samford Saturday morning at 10:30 a.m.
ASU opened the match by claiming the doubles point with wins at No. 1 and No. 2. Sebastien King and Philip Kloc downed Cameron Silverman and Stefan Fortmann 8-5 at No. 1. Elon's duo of Jordan Kaufman and Dan Sablik beat Steve Karendal and Andrew McKinnon at the No. 3 position by an 8-1 score. With the doubles knotted, ASU's Alex Markov and Alain Humblet beat Eric Turner and Andrew Prince 8-5 to give the Mountaineers the point.
The Mountaineers (15-6-1) pushed ahead 2-0 when Steve Karendal topped Juan Madrid 6-2, 6-3 at No. 5 singles.
Eric Turner and Cameron Silverman got Elon on the board as both won their singles matches within minutes of each other. Turner beat Alain Humblet at No. 3 (6-1, 4-6, 6-2) to give Elon its first point just as Silverman finished his 7-5, 7-6 victory over Alex Markov at No. 1.
Elon's run continued as Jordan Kaufman rallied after dropping the first set to claim a 2-6, 6-2, 7-5 win over Sebastien King at No. 4.
With the Phoenix (9-15) holding a 3-2 lead in the match, ASU's Philip Kloc and Elon's Stefan Fortmann went deep into the third set before Fortmann was forced to retire due to injury, giving ASU it's third point.
The match came down to No. 6 singles where Matt Saltsgaver came from behind to pull out a 3-6, 7-5, 7-5 win and give ASU the victory.