Men's Tennis Opens Season with Two-Game Homestand
1/27/2012 4:29:00 PM | Men's Tennis
STATESBORO, Ga. - The Georgia Southern Men's Tennis team begins its 2012 campaign with a two-game homestand against non-conference foes Mercer and North Florida. A ribbon cutting ceremony to unveil the newly renovated Hanner Tennis Complex will take place on Friday at noon and will precede the match versus the Bears at 2 p.m. The homestand concludes on Saturday with a match against the Ospreys at 1 p.m.
The Eagles are coming off a disappointing end to their 2011 season, narrowly falling to Chattanooga 4-3 in the first round of the SoCon Championships. The team has big shoes to fill, as it is looking to replace reigning SoCon Player of the Year Juan Melian Puigventos. However, the team is anchored by returners Alain Garrido (Vigo, Spain) and Matthijs Verdam (Hilversum, Netherlands). Optimism also surrounds six newcomers including five freshmen and sophomore transfer Oliver Webb (London, England). Two of the freshmen, Kyle Hoffman (Sarasota, Fla.) and Andrew Dromsky (Martinez, Ga.), won their respective singles flights in the Citadel Fall Invitational during the fall season.
The Bears from Macon also begin their season on Friday, and they will look to avenge a 4-3 defeat at the hands of the Eagles in last year's contest. A thrilling three-set comeback win by Marco Osorio (Tegucigalpa, Honduras) sealed the victory for the Eagles. They also received singles victories from Garrido and Verdam. The Bears are led by upperclassmen Pierre Tafelski, Peter Tauchner, and David Barton.
The Ospreys from Jacksonville are 1-1 on the season, defeating Radford and falling to Florida State. They are led by returners Moritz Buerchner and Daniel Sotomarino who helped give North Florida a 7-0 victory in last year's match with Georgia Southern. The reigning Atlantic Sun Conference regular season champions are ranked 71st nationally and should prove to be a good test for the Eagles.
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