Successful First Day at North Florida Invitational for Eagles
10/13/2007 4:17:00 AM | Men's Tennis
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. ? The Georgia Southern men's tennis team opened the first day of competition at the North Florida Invitational Friday posting wins in both singles and doubles. The tournament, comprised of ten competing teams, hosts three 64-player singles draws and three 16-team doubles flights.
Both Borja Malet and Emmanuel Nkoueleue ousted two sets of opponents Friday in the rounds of 32 and 16, respectively, to advance to the quarterfinals of flight “A”. Sophomore Malet, a native of Barcelona, Spain, downed two opponents, 6-2, 6-2, in the rounds of 32 and 16, respectively. Malet first ousted Cristian Cruz of Bethune-Cookman before finishing off Jordi Ballester of Jacksonville University in the round of 16. Malet will face Javier Ferrin of host school, University of NorthFlorida, Saturday in the quarterfinal round. Lone senior Nkoueleue received a bye in the round of 32 before ousting Stefan James of Bethune-Cookman, 6-2, 6-0, in the round of 16. Nkoueleue will take on Charlie Ramsay of Memphis Saturday morning in the quarters. Joris De Weerdt (Mortsel, Belguim) fell in the round of 16 to Benjamin Chomeette. De Weerdt will face Daniel Isaza of ETSU in the consolation round.
In flight “B” singles, both Philip Prins and Gregory Bekkers received round of 32 byes before falling in the round of 16. Prins and Bekkers will play in the quarterfinal round of the flight “B” consolation bracket on Saturday afternoon. Mark Paetz fell in the flight “C” round of 16 and will face Andres Monje in the consolation quarterfinals.
Three doubles tandems competed for the Eagles on Friday, all advancing to the seminfinals. In “A” doubles, Malet/Nkoueleue defeated Carl Abalos/Oliver Reynolds of Samford University, 8-1, in the round of 16. The Eagles tandem will take on Jorid Ballester/Victor Vaz of Jacksonville University in the semifinals round Saturday. Gregory Bekkers/De Weerdt also advanced to the semifinals in “B” doubles after defeating Kelwin Dewet/Brian Dushock of Samford University, 8-5. The doubles pair will take on Guilherme Sahadhi/Marko Zivkovic of Troy in the semifinals. “C” doubles witnessed Paetz/Prins oust Luis Gomes/Terry Powell of Bethune-Cookman, 8-3, to take on Lawrence Harradine/Daniel Vardag of FAU in the semifinals Saturday morning.
Doubles competition begins Saturday morning followed by singles action in the afternoon.
