Men's Tennis Competes in Georgia Southern Invitational
9/14/2007 1:15:00 PM | Men's Tennis
Statesboro, Ga. - The Georgia Southern men's tennis team opened up fall competition at the Georgia Southern Invitational held at the Hanner Fieldhouse Tennis Courts on Friday.
Georgia Southern squared off against The Citadel, Armstrong Atlantic State, South Carolina State and the University of North Florida in the individuals singles and doubles tournament.
"It was a good first day of the tournament,” said coach Justin Miles. “There is a lot of good competition here and nobody had easy matches today. Some of the guys showed a little bit of nerves that will go away with more matches and experience in pressure situations.”
The Eagles did very well in singles play as junior Joris De Weerdt (Mortsel, Belgium/St. Gabriel) and senior Emmanuel Nkoueleue (Douala, Cameroon/ Abraham Baldwin) both advanced in the singles A bracket. De Weerdt finished off Christian Bergh of Armstrong Atlantic State 7-5, 7-6 (4), while Nkoueleue defeated David Grund of South Carolina State 6-2, 6-2.
In singles B competition, juniors Philip Prins (Cape Town, South Africa/Rondebosch) and Neil Shine (Augusta, Ga./Augusta Prep), both advanced as did sophomore Gregory Bekkers (Antwerp Belgium/Keystone) and freshman Wesley Powell (Bainbridge, Ga.).
The Eagles looked sharp in singles competition, but coach Miles believes they still need to continue to work hard on their overall game. Georgia Southern dropped three of four doubles matches, but will look to improve on their overall mark as the tournament continues tomorrow.
Coach Miles said, “Singles results were a little better than the doubles but we showed a lot of potential to improve in both."
Georgia Southern will be back on the court tomorrow for the second day of the Georgia Southern Invitational. Match play is scheduled to begin at 8:00 AM.
Singles A: Paul Bishop (AASU) def. Borja Malet (GSU) 6-1, 2-0 retired Joris De Weerdt (GSU) def. Christian Bergh (AASU) 7-5, 7-6 (4) Emmanuel Nkoueleue (GSU) def. David Grund (SCSU) 6-2, 6-2
Singles B:
Philip Prins (Bye) (1)
Gregory Bekkers (Bye) (2)
Radek Langer (SCSU) def. Mark Paetz (GSU) 6-3, 7-6
Neil Shine (GSU) def. Martin King (CIT) 6-4, 3-6, 6-3
Wesley Powell (GSU) def. Vickram Guatham (SCSU) 6-2, 7-6 (5)
Doubles A:
Ferrin/Edgar (UNF) def. De Weerdt/Prins (GSU) 8-6
Array/Bishop (AASU) def. Nkoueleue/Malet (GSU) 9-8 (5)
Doubles B:
R. Langer/J. Langer (SCSU) def. Powell/Bekkers
Shine/Paetz (GSU) (Bye)
