Good start for men’s tennis team

Georgia College & State University men’s tennis team took home some hardware from its own tournament.

The Bobcats wrapped up play Sunday in the championship rounds of the Second Annual Alltel Men’s Fall Tennis Championships.

“I thought we played pretty well this past weekend,” said Head Tennis Coach Steve Barsby. “It’s a good starting point for us. We had some up and down results, but overall it was pretty positive.”

The tournament was held at the Centennial Center Tennis Facility. The Bobcats had four players in singles title matches along with two doubles tandems.

“This is our second year hosting the fall tournament,” said Barsby. “Last year we didn’t even have anyone in the semi-finals and this year we had two singles players in the finals and a doubles team in the finals.”

Augusta State was the big winner in the Open Singles bracket as Raul Intriago defeated teammate Zia Hai in three sets 6-4;5-7;6-4. Intriago was the No. 2 seed in the tournament.

GC&SU’s Mikael Pettersson defeated teammate James Gorin 6-2;6-3 in the championship match of the Open Consolation bracket.

Pettersson advanced to the title match after knocking off Fort Valley State University’s Kewku Symonette 6-3;6-4 in Saturday’s semifinal.

Gorin defeated teammate Per Schartum Hansen in Saturday’s semifinal 7-6;3-6;6-4.

Columbus State University’s Fernando Gallegos defeated GC&SU’s Thomas Karlsson 6-2;6-4 in a battle of the brackets top two seeded players to win the B Flight Championship. Karlsson, the No. 2 seed, rallied to defeat teammate Brandon Lee in three sets 2-6;6-3;6-4 during Saturday’s semifinals.

Columbus State University also won the B Flight Consolation Championship as Humberto Rodriguez defeated Fort Valley State University’s Robert Isaacs 6-2;6-0.

GC&SU’s David Cooper knocked off Fort Valley State’s Tarbarie Stephens 6-2;6-1 on Saturday, and then rallied to defeat Newberry University’s Jim Gilliam 4-6;6-1;6-1 in the semis to advance to Sunday’s championship. Cooper was unable to keep the momentum however, and lost on Sunday to Columbus State University’s Brent Pelletier 6-2;6-0.

“I was definitely impressed with the way David played,” said Barsby. “This was his first college tournament. That was a good time for a new guy on the team to do well.”

In doubles play, Augusta State University’s Zia Hai and Raul Intriago defeated GC&SU’s James Gorin and Brandon Lee 8-3 to win the Open Championship. Gorin and Lee advanced to the title match after upsetting top seeded Tim Child and Tracy Strozier from Columbus State University 8-3 in the semifinal match.

The Bobcat duo of Thomas Karlsson and Per Schartum-Hansen won the Open Doubles Consolation Championship after knocking off University of South Carolina at Aiken’s Carlos Huerta and Kiril Popov 8-3. Karlsson and Schartum-Hansen won their semifinal match 8-0 over Fort Valley State University’s Paul Small and Marshall Northington.

Columbus State University’s Fernando Gallegos and Humberto Rodriguez won the B Doubles Championships with an 8-4 victory over Augusta State University’s Jackson Hubert and Mike Vandenabeele.

GC&SU’s Thomas Hemmestad and Mikael Pettersson lost 8-5 in the semifinals to Gallegos and Rodriguez, while David Cooper and Lance Grisham also lost in the semifinals to Hubert and Vandenabeele 8-5.

“We still have to work out the kinks,” said Barsby. “We’re still not playing great, we’re playing okay. Our singles play was pretty decent, hopefully we can improve before regionals.”

The women’s team will join the men this weekend when they travel to Wilson, N.C. for their second tournament of the season. Barton College will host the ITA Mid-Atlantic Regional Tournament starting on Oct. 4.

Posted by Colonnade Archives on Oct 4 2002. 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