Eagles Record SoCon Road Win Over Chattanooga, 4-3

CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. ? In the Southern Conference finale for the Georgia Southern men's tennis team, freshman Edio Castanhel clinched a 4-3 victory for the Eagles over Chattanooga Saturday afternoon (April 18) that marked the first win over the Mocs since 2005. A two-hour doubles point battle and three singles wins pushed Georgia Southern to 9-8-1 on the season and 5-4-1 in conference action. On senior day, the Mocs dropped to 2-17 and 0-10.

“It was a good Southern Conference win on the road for us. We played well with the pressure of it being their senior day. Chattanooga played really well today and competed well on senior day,” said head coach Justin Miles.

The Eagles battled it out in doubles action to gain the early team advantage. Gregory Bekkers and Philip Prins decisively defeated Gordon Rudell and van de Bovenkamp, 8-2. But the final two courts would fight to the last point. The junior duo of Justin Flynn and Jayraj Jadeja clinched the point for the Eagles at the two seed. A 9-7 decision gave the Eagle duo their tenth doubles victory of the season as they defeated Alex Butnarcuic and Dakota Pate. Completing the doubles sweep for Georgia Southern at the No.1 seed, seniors Joris De Weerdt and Matthew Sands improved to 11-6 in the dual season, 20-9 overall, with an 8-7 (7) victory over Peter Sauska and Pavel Vostrikov.

Despite jumping out to a quick 3-0 advantage in singles action, the Mocs would rally back to within one, 3-2, before Castanhel secured the match. Flynn and Jadeja put Georgia Southern on the brink of a win with straight set wins early on. Flynn did not drop a game as the Eagle cruised to a 6-0, 6-0 victory over Sam Parfitt at No.5 while fellow classmate Jadeja defeated Butnarcuic, 6-3, 6-1 at the three seed.

The Mocs took the next two singles matches to finish, cutting the lead to within one. Vostrikov put the finishing touches on a 7-5, 7-5 triumph over Bekkers at the two court before Sauska completed a 6-4 straight set win over De Weerdt from the top position.

But Castanhel outlasted UTC's van de Bovenkamp for a straight set match clinching win at No.6. The freshman took the first set in an 8-6 tiebreak battle and grabbed the second set, 6-4, to secure the team victory for Georgia Southern. Chattanooga took the final match as Pate defeated Alain Garrido in three-sets. Garrido notched the first set but would succumb to the Moc in the final two sets.

Georgia Southern concludes 2009 regular season play with a noon match on Sunday, April 19 at Presbyterian.

Georgia Southern 4, Chattanooga 3

Doubles:
1. Joris De Weerdt/Matthew Sands (GSU) def. Peter Sauska/Pavel Vostrikov (UTC) 8-7 (7)
2. Justin Flynn/Jayraj Jadeja (GSU) def. Alex Butnarcuic/Dakota Pate (UTC) 9-7*
3. Gregory Bekkers/Philip Prins (GSU) def. Gordon Rudell/R. van de Bovenkamp (UTC) 8-2
Order of finish: 3, 2, 1
*Clinched the doubles point

Singles:
1. Peter Sauska (UTC) def. Joris De Weerdt (GSU) 6-4, 6-4
2. Pavel Vostrikov (UTC) def. Gregory Bekkers (GSU) 7-5, 7-5
3. Jayraj Jadeja (GSU) def. Alex Butnarcuic (UTC) 6-3, 6-1
4. Dakota Pate (UTC) def. Alain Garrido (GSU) 6-7 (3-7), 6-4, 6-0
5. Justin Flynn (GSU) def. Sam Parfitt (UTC) 6-0, 6-0
6. Edio Castanhel (GSU) def. R. van de Bovenkamp (UTC) 7-6 (6), 6-4*
Order of finish: 5, 3, 2, 1, 6, 4
*Clinched the match

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