Men's Tennis Visits Greater Atlanta Area This Weekend
2/4/2011 6:52:00 PM | Men's Tennis
STATESBORO, Ga. - The Georgia Southern Men's Tennis team (1-0) travels to the greater Atlanta area and will face Georgia State (3-2) Saturday at 2 p.m. and Kennesaw State (2-0) Sunday at noon.
The Eagles are coming off a season-opening win over Fort Valley State at home. Georgia Southern swept the doubles, winning the two deciding matches 8-0 and 8-0. The Eagles also picked up the win in the number-three doubles, 8-3. GSU carried that success over to the singles portion of the match and won all six matches in straight sets.
"It was definitely good to start on a positive note, but we know that we are facing much tougher matches this weekend at Georgia State and Kennesaw State," said Head Coach Nick Zieziula. "We will be playing on the road and will have to make adjustments to the court surfaces and home crowds, but hopefully we are riding that positive from last week's win."
Sophomores Juan Manuel Melian Puigventos (Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Spain) combined with Matthijs Verdam (Hilversum, The Netherlands) to grab the doubles point 8-0 in the number-one doubles. Puigventos also grabbed the first singles point in the number one slot with a 6-0, 6-0 victory over Brandon Pringle.
"Juan came in with a lot of tools as a freshman. I got to see him play some before this season and had some good ideas about a few little things I could due to help improve his game," said Zieziula. "He has a great attitude at practice and is always looking for what he can do to improve."
Georgia State has won three-straight matches after defeating Mercer 5-2 Wednesday at Piedmont Park in Atlanta. Juan Pablo Gutierrez and Lucas Santana are both riding four-match winning streaks. Gutierrez is 4-1 in the number-four doubles and is 2-2 in number three doubles competition. Santana is undefeated in number six singles and his only loss came in his only match in number-five singles competition.
Kennesaw State is off to a 2-0 start in just its third season of competition as a program. The Owls have claimed victories over Xavier (La.) and Jackson State on the road and will play their home opener against Georgia Southern. Kennesaw State has lost only one match point so far and is led by Simon Janik. Janik is 2-0 in the number one singles and has combined with Elliot Kahler for a perfect 2-0 record in number one doubles.
