GC&SU Tennis wins season opener

Feb. 8

The Georgia College & State University men’s tennis squad opened the season with a win against North Greenville College, 5-4, at the Centennial Center Tennis Facility. The Bobcats are 1-0 on the season.

In singles play, GC&SU’s James Gorin fell to Ilian Nachev 6-3; 6-2 at No. 1 singles, while teammate Per Schartum-Hansen defeated Keith Powell 6-2; 6-4 at the No. 2 spot.

In the No. 3 singles, Mikael Pettersson knocked off A. J. Meissner 7-5; 6-1 for GC&SU, and Kris Popovic claimed the Bobcats final victory at the No. 4 spot in the 6-3; 3-2 defeat of Derek Drews after he was retired in the second match due to a leg injury. Thomas Karlsson fell in a tough No.5 singles dual with Jadison Fioramosca 4-6; 7-5; 6-2 along with a loss for Brandon Lee in the No.6 singles against Tomas Kirstuckas who survived for the 6-2; 3-6; 7-5 win.

GC&SU won two of the three doubles matches even though the No. 1 tandem of Gorin and Popovic was upset 8-4 by the North Greenville team of Kirstuckas and Drews. In No. 2 doubles, Karlsson and Schartum-Hansen defeated Nachev and Fioramosca, 8-1, while Pettersson and Lee won 8-3 against Meissner and partner Damian Storti

Feb. 9

After several tie-breakers and a trio of three set matches, the GC&SU men’s tennis team fell 5-4 to Gardner-Webb University Sunday afternoon at the Centennial Center Tennis Facility.

GC&SU (1-1) dug a hole for itself early by losing two out of three doubles matches. Both losses had to go to eight point tiebreakers however. The Bobcats only win came at No. 2 doubles where Brandon Lee and Mikael Pettersson teamed up for an 8-4 victory over Mike Osbourne and Bryan Edmunds. GC&SU’s James Gorin and Kris Popovic lost a tough 9-8 decision at No. 1 doubles to Ilija Sekulic and Phil Skelton. GC&SU’s Per Schartum-Hansen and Thomas Hemmestad built a 6-3 lead at No. 3, but

Gardner-Webb’s Daniel Abraho and Kern Phillip rallied to win 9-8.

The Bobcats battled back in singles play and tied the score at 4-all with one match to play. Gorin picked up a 6-4; 6-1 win over Skelton at No.1, while Popovic rallied to defeat Phillip in three sets 3-6; 6-3; 6-2 at No.4. Lee also won at No. 5 singles with a 7-6; 6-3 victory over Osbourne. Gardner-Webb’s Edmonds defeated Pettersson in three sets 6-1; 6-7; 6-0 at No.3, while Abraho defeated Hemmestad in straight sets 6-4; 6-3 at No.6.

All eyes then turned to court two where Gardner-Webb’s Sekulic and GC&SU’s Schartum-Hansen were playing what would be the deciding match at No. 2 singles. Schartum-Hansen won the first set 7-5 and had match-point in the tie-breaker in the second set, but Sekulic battled back to win the second set 7-6 and took the third set 6-3 to win the match for the Bulldogs.

The Bobcats return to action on Sunday against Limestone University at the Centennial Center courts at 3 p.m.

The women’s team will be in action Saturday at the Centennial Center courts against Clayton State University at 1 p.m.

Posted by Colonnade Archives on Feb 14 2003. 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