Men?s Tennis Falls to Charleston
4/15/2011 12:57:00 AM | Men's Tennis
STATESBORO, Ga. - The Georgia Southern Men's Tennis team (9-12, 2-7 SoCon) could not gather momentum in singles play, falling to Charleston (15-5, 9-1 SoCon) 5-2. The loss marks the first time the Cougars have defeated the Eagles at Hanner Tennis Complex since 2007. Georgia Southern still leads the all-time series 27-15.
"College of Charleston showed why they are going to finish first or second in the conference - they were consistently a little better than we were in pressure situations," said Head Coach Nick Zieziula. "We got them down a break at No. 1 doubles and at No. 3 doubles, but we didn't maintain our edge in order to keep the lead. Juan [Melian Puigventos] and Matthijs [Verdam] both did a tremendous job in their singles matches. We need to step it up Saturday and close the season with a win going into the SoCon tournament."
Charleston gained an early advantage, sweeping doubles play for a one-point lead going into singles action. Juan Melian Puigventos (Las Palmas De Las Canaria, Spain) and Matthijs Verdam (Hilversum, The Netherlands) battled on court one to force a tiebreak, but fell 8-6 in the tiebreak set for an 8-7 loss.
The Cougars carried their momentum into singles play to win the first singles match for a 2-0 lead. A win at the top of the lineup helped the Eagles close the gap to 2-1, but three straight victories for Charleston clinched the match.
Melian Puigventos and Verdam earned Georgia Southern its wins in singles action. Melian Puigventos cruised through his match, winning in straight sets 6-0, 6-3 over Charleston's Lukas Koncilla. The victory extends the sophomore's consecutive winning streak to 14 at No. 1 singles and an overall record on the season to 20-1, both career highs.
While one streak continued, another ended, as Verdam broke Charleston's Tom Delme's 11-match winning streak in three sets at the No. 3 spot. Down a set, Verdam marched back to win 6-4, 6-3 in the final two sets to hand Delme his first defeat in league play. Delme is now 9-1 in conference action while Verdam's victory moves him to 7-3 at the No. 3 seed.
Georgia Southern closes out the regular season at home Saturday, April 16th, against Chattanooga (7-14, 2-7 SoCon) at noon. The Eagles will honor seniors Thomas Bekkers (Antwerp, Belgium), Mark Paetz (Munich, Germany) and Alex Yuille (Epsom, England) for their contributions to the program in a pre-match ceremony.
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.
College of Charleston 5, Georgia Southern 2
Apr 14, 2011 at Statesboro, Ga. (Hanner Tennis Complex)
Singles competition
1. J. Melian Puigventos (GSU) def. Lukas Koncilia (COFC) 6-0, 6-3
2. Mickael Trintignac (COFC) def. Alain Garrido (GSU) 7-5, 6-3
3. Matthijs Verdam (GSU) def. Tom Delme (COFC) 3-6, 6-4, 6-3
4. Mickael Boyer (COFC) def. Mark Paetz (GSU) 6-4, 6-1
5. Kyle Parker (COFC) def. Edio Castanhel (GSU) 6-3, 7-5
6. Stephen Hardy (COFC) def. Sebastien Felt (GSU) 6-1, 3-6, 6-0
Order of finish: 5, 1, 4, 2, 6, 3
Doubles competition
1. Lukas Koncilia/Kyle Parker (COFC) def. J. Melian Puigventos/Matthijs Verdam (GSU) 8-7 (8-6)
2. Tom Delme/Stephen Hardy (COFC) def. Edio Castanhel/Marco Osorio (GSU) 8-4
3. Mickael Trintignac/Billy Kenny (COFC) def. Derrick Davison/Alain Garrido (GSU) 8-5
Order of finish: 3, 2, 1
