Eagles' Slide Continues at East Carolina
2/12/2012 5:04:00 PM | Men's Tennis
GREENVILLE, N.C. - Road woes continued for the Georgia Southern Men's Tennis team on Sunday afternoon. The Eagles played tight matches but were blanked at the hands of the East Carolina Pirates, 7-0. The win is the Pirates' seventh in their last eight contests, while the Eagles have now dropped six straight, five of them being on the road.
The Eagles (1-6) fell behind early in the match by losing the doubles point. The Pirates notched quick victories at No. 1 and No. 3 doubles by identical 8-1 scores. Alain Garrido (Vigo, Spain) and Andrew Dromsky's (Martinez, Ga.) match at No. 2 doubles went unfinished because the doubles point had already been decided.
Singles play didn't garner any winning results for the Eagles, either. The headline of the day, as it has been for much of the season, was the inability to pull through in close matches. Three of them were lost after splitting sets. Dromsky jumped out to an early lead but lost a pair of tiebreakers in his match at No. 4 singles to fall, 2-6, 7-6 (7-1), 10-4. His fellow freshman, Daniel Rush (Orange Park, Fla.), lost in a ten-point match tiebreaker as well at No. 5 singles, 6-3, 6-7 (3-7), 10-7. Freshman Albert Codina Sala (Manresa, Spain) had a similar fate at No. 3 singles, winning the first set but falling by a score of 4-6, 6-1, 6-4. The fourth freshman starter at singles, Kyle Hoffman (Sarasota, Fla.), lost at No. 2 singles by a score of 6-4, 6-2.
"We've got to get back and take care of some injuries and clear up some illness, but above all else we've got to get tougher mentally," said Head Coach Nick Zieziula. "We need to do a better job of sticking with simple, consistent game plans."
The Eagles hope their fortunes will turn around when they return home for a weekend series at the newly renovated Hanner Tennis Complex. Matches are slated to start on Saturday at 1 p.m. against South Carolina State and Sunday at noon against Kennesaw State.
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