Men’s tennis team starts year off on the right foot

Over the past weekend, Georgia College & State University’s men’s tennis team had a great start to what should be a good year. With many questions still unanswered about the team, GC&SU tennis made a mark for the rest of the Peach Belt Conference to look out for. With many young and exciting players, this tennis team is very serious about winning the conference.

GC&SU hosted the Alltel Men’s Regional Fall Classic on September 14-16 at the Centennial Center tennis facility. In Friday’s first round of the Fall Classic, GC&SU’s sophomores Alex Beuregard and Mikael Pettersson defeated Mercer’s Martin English and Subash Patel in the Open Doubles draw. Beuregard and Pettersson fought back from a tough (5-2) deficit to win a (9-8) tiebreaker.

Carlos Rojas and Roger Moore were also victorious with an (8-2) win in their first round match over Fort Valley State’s Paul Small and Jared Turnquest. The two triumphant Bobcat duos faced each other in Saturday’s quarterfinal round in which Petterson and Beauregard went on to defeat Moore and Rojas (8-2).

Petterson and Beauregard faced a tough team in Saturday’s Semifinal Round. The two Bobcats were defeated (8-3) by Mercer’s Nima Akhavein and Ricardo Echeverri. ABAC’S Erik Flygt and Gaston Verna defeated Mercer’s Akhavein and Echeverri in a tough, hard-fought match, winning (8-3).

In other doubles action, GC&SU’s James Gorin and Per Schartum Hansen proved victorious over ABAC’s Matias Alderete and Jacobo Uribe with an (8-4) victory on Friday. However, Gorin and Schartum-Hansen lost an (8-6) nail biter on Saturday to Mercer’s Akhavein and Echeverri. The Bobcats’ Thomas Hemmested and Jamie Stanford also advanced to Saturday’s Quarterfinals Round after defeating FVSU’s Kewku and Tshaka Symonnete (8-0). Hemmested and Stanford went to the Quarterfinals and lost a heartbreaking and very close (9-7) match to ABAC’s Alex Garcia and Arya Vafaei. GC&SU’s Florian Hieber and Thomas Karlson lost their first round match (8-3) to ABAC’s Kotaro Noguchi and Camilo Sabogal.

In the “B” Singles Draw matches, GC&SU’s Stanford defeated Michael Marion on Friday (6-0, 6-2) and advanced to Saturday’s Second Round match. Stanford managed to grind it out and defeat ABAC’s Sabogal (6-4, 7-5). Unfortunately, Stanford was defeated (7-6, 6-3) in a very tough, hard-fought match against Mercer’s Echeverri.

GC&SU’s Hieber won his opening match against Brian Samples with an impressive (6-0, 6-0). Hieber also advanced to Saturday’s Semifinal round after defeating Mercer’s Martin English (6-4, 1-6, 6-2). Hieber lost to a tough Mercer opponent, Jeff Moore, in the Semifinal round, which ended (6-2, 7-5). On Sunday, Mercer teammates Moore and Echeverri played an exciting championship match. Moore defeated Echeverri (6-3, 6-2).

GC&SU won all three of its Open Singles Consolation Draw matches on Saturday. Beauregard defeated Mercer’s Akhavein. Schartum-Hansen defeated Kotaro Noguchi of ABAC (6-2, 6-2). Heemested defeated Fort Valley’s Symonette (6-1, 6-3). In the Quarterfinal Rounds, Beauregard defeated ABAC’s David Leggio (6-4, 1-6, 7-6). Schartum-Hansen defeated Gildardo Lobo of ABAC (6-3, 6-2). In Sunday’s Semifinal Round, GC&SU’s Beauregard lost to Mercer’s Subash Patel (6-1, 6-2). Schartum-Hansen, however, defeated Alex Garcia of ABAC, winning (5-2), and retired the second set.

Sunday’s championship match was as exciting as they get. GC&SU’s Per Schartum-Hansen defeated Subash Patel of Mercer in a tough match. Schartum-Hansen proved victorious, winning (6-4, 6-4).

In the Open Singles Draw, GC&SU’s Karsslon, Beaurgard, Schartum-Hansen and Pettersson had first round byes. Mercer’s Michael Witting defeated GC&SU’s Thomas Hemmested in the first round (6-2, 6-1). GC&SU was victorious in two of its four matches in Saturday’s Second Round. Pettersson defeated ABAC’s Arya Vafaei (6-4, 6-3). Thomas Karlsson defeated David Leggio of ABAC (6-3, 7-5). Both Bobcats advanced to the Quarterfinals. Pettersson lost a tough match to ABAC’s Gaston Verna, ending (6-2, 6-0). Karlsson put up a great fight but was defeated by ABAC’s Erik Flygt (6-4, 6-4). Verna went on to win Sunday’s Championship against Michael Witting of Mercer (6-1, 6-0).

Posted by Colonnade Archives on Sep 21 2001. Filed under Sports. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry