LEXINGTON, Ky. ? The Georgia Southern men's tennis team competed this past weekend at the Wilson/ITA Southeast Indoor Regional, held at the University of Kentucky in Lexington.
The match format was made up of a 256-individual draw amongst nationally ranked players. Seeds and placed players were block seeded with winners advancing to the round of 64. Doubles action consisted of a 64-team draw. A consolation tournament for first match losers was held on Thursday and Friday.
Georgia Southern's Emmanuel Nkoueleue was victorious yet again in the opening round of competition as he defeated Badr BouaBdellah of Chattanooga. The Douala, Cameroon native defeated the Southern Conference rival 6-1, 6-0 in the round of 256. Junior Joris De Weerdt (Mortsel, Belgium) was defeated in three sets falling 6-2, 3-6, 6-3 to Florida's Dan Cash. Eagles' sophomore Borja Malet also fell in the first round losing to Ian Zelezny of LSU in three sets 6-2, 5-7, 6-0.
Nkoueleue continued where he left off advancing to the round of 64 by defeating Michael Nusslein of South Florida 6-4, 6-3. The senior claimed the singles title a week ago at the North Florida Invitational. He would eventually fall in the third round losing 6-3, 6-3 to Matt Thibaudeau of Alabama.
De Weerdt was victorious in the first round of the consolation bracket defeating Charlie Ramsay from Memphis 7-5, 6-3, before falling to Jordan Delass of Samford 6-1, 6-3 in the round of 32.
In doubles action, the tandem of Nkoueleue and Malet cruised to a first round victory defeating Eastern Kentucky's Lars Gratzki and Alejandro Das 9-8(7). The Eagles duo would fall 8-5 to Kentucky's team of Brad Cox and Bruno Agostinelli in the round of 32.
The Wilson/ITA Southeast Indoor Regional continues today at 9:30 a.m. Georgia Southern concludes fall play next weekend at the Crimson Tide Invitational in Tuscaloosa, Ala.
