Men's Tennis Wins Second Straight with Defeat of Florida Gulf Coast
3/10/2011 2:39:00 AM | Men's Tennis
STATESBORO, Ga. - Just before the sweeping rains fell on the courts at the Hanner Tennis Complex Wednesday, March 9th, Georgia Southern Men's Tennis gathered enough points to defeat Florida Gulf Coast 4-2. The two teams started with singles play as the radar was cluttered with precipitation. It marked the second-straight win for GSU after a 4-3 win over Southern Conference foe Furman the day before.
"This was a big win for us today, especially after how much yesterday's win took out of us mentally and physically," said Head Men's Tennis Coach Nick Zieziula. "It was big to be able to clinch the match in singles. We stayed sharp mentally and did not let Florida Gulf Coast even us out."
For the second-straight match, the decision came down to the play of sophomore Matthijs Verdam (Hilversum, The Netherlands), competing at number-two singles for the third time this year. Verdam won the first set over FGCU's Matthew Rock 6-0, before Rock responded with a second-set 6-4 win. In the third set, Verdam battled to a 6-4 victory and secured the team win.
Sophomore Juan Melian Puigventos (Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Spain) recorded the first point for Georgia Southern with straight-set wins, 6-0, 6-1, over Gabriel Echeverry at number-one singles. At the number-three seed, Alain Garrido (Vigo, Spain) dropped Steve Binninger 6-1, 6-4. Sebastian Felt (Vienna, Austria) battled Flordia Gulf Coast's Dean Tsamas at the fifth spot, recovering from a first set loss (2-6) for a 6-1 win in the second set. Felt won the third set 7-5 to give Georgia Southern its third point.
The Eagles return to the Hanner Tennis Complex courts at 1 p.m. on Monday, March 14th, for an inaugural meeting with Southern Illinois Carbondale.
For more information on Georgia Southern Men's Tennis, follow the Eagles at GeorgiaSouthernEagles.com/mtennis or receive short updates at twitter.com/GSAthletics or facebook.com/GSAthletics.
Georgia Southern, 4 Florida Gulf Coast University 2
March 9, 2011 at Statesboro, Ga. (Hanner Tennis Complex)
Singles Competition
1. Juan M. Puigventos (GSU) def. Gabriel Echeverry (FGCU) 6-0, 6-1
2. Matthijs Verdam (GSU) def. Matthew Rock (FGCU) 6-0, 4-6, 6-4
3. Alain Garrido (GSU) def. Steve Benninger (FGCU) 6-1, 6-4
4. Carlo Checchia (FGCU) def. Edio Castanhel (GSU) 6-2, 6-4
5. Sebastien Felt (GSU) def. Dean Tsamas (FGCU) 2-6, 6-1, 7-5
6. Mitchell Lvovsky (FGCU) def. Thomas Bekkers (GSU) 6-4, 6-0
Order of finish: 1,4,3,6,5,2
Doubles Competition
(Not played due to weather)
-GS-
