Men's Tennis Falls to Davidson in Conference Bout
3/8/2012 1:43:00 AM | Men's Tennis
STATESBORO, Ga. - The Georgia Southern Men's Tennis team fought hard once again but came up short in its conference battle against Davidson. The Eagles fell, 5-2, to the Wildcats on Wednesday afternoon at Hanner Tennis Complex.
The Eagles (1-10) grabbed an early lead in the match by capturing the doubles point. The No. 2 doubles tandem of Daniel Rush (Orange Park, Fla.) and Marco Osorio (Tegucigalpa, Honduras) got the Eagles on the board with an 8-2 victory at No. 2 doubles. Kyle Hoffman (Sarasota, Fla.) and Albert Codina Sala (Manresa, Spain) had previously fallen, 8-3, at No. 3 doubles. Alain Garrido (Vigo, Spain) and Andrew Dromsky (Martinez, Ga.) played well in the clutch at No. 1 doubles and won the doubles point for the home team by downing the No. 57 ranked doubles team in the country, Joe Schafer and Calum Gee, 8-6. Schafer and Gee were ranked No. 19 in the Intercollegiate Tennis Association's rankings to begin the season, and this marks only the second loss they've suffered this year.
However, the momentum from winning the doubles point didn't carry over into singles play. The Eagles narrowly lost matches at five of the six singles positions. Dromsky fell at No. 4 singles by a score of 7-5, 6-0. Garrido, the lone singles victor for the Eagles, regained the lead for the home team with a 6-2, 6-3 win at No. 1 singles. The match was leveled when Codina Sala fell at No. 3 singles, 6-2, 7-6. Connor Evins gave the Wildcats their first lead of the match by defeating Rush at No. 6 singles, 6-3, 6-4. Schafer clinched the win for the Wildcats with a 7-6, 7-6 win at No. 2 singles over Hoffman. Osorio fought back at No. 5 singles but ultimately fell in three sets for the second consecutive match, 7-5, 6-7, 6-1.
"I'm really pleased with the way our doubles play has come along this year," said Head Coach Nick Zieziula. "Davidson came into the match 7-1 in doubles points this year, and we found a way to take the point and beat a nationally-ranked tandem team along the way. We are giving ourselves leads in singles, but we aren't punching it all the way through when we get the lead. Today, we served up a break late in sets at No. 2, No. 4 and No. 6 singles but didn't close it out. We've got to stick with what's getting us leads and not get tentative."
The Eagles will face a quick turnaround when they host No. 70 Stetson on Friday at 2 p.m. at Hanner Tennis Complex. In-state rival Georgia State will also visit Statesboro on Sunday to complete the six-game homestand for the Eagles.
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