Tennis closes at Chick-fil-A event

    The abbreviated fall season came to a close last weekend as the GCSU tennis squads showed their strong potential at the Chic-fil-A Collegiate Championships in Augusta.
    “The fall season started a little slow,” head coach Steve Brasby said. “We didn’t play great at our tournament, we went to the regionals and got some decent results there, and then went to Augusta this past weekend and things looked a little more promising. The field wasn’t as deep, but a lot of the matches our guys played at the end were against (The University of South Carolina at) Aiken, the team that knocked us out of the (Peach Belt) Conference tournament last year, and head to head we were four and one, the only one we lost was our No. 1 guy, Erick Siquiera.”
    Siquiera, who won the GCSU Men’s Fall Tournament, came in second in the Flight 1 bracket after falling 6-3, 7-6 to Aiken’s Dagoberto Darezzo.
    “Erick played some challenging matches this fall and lost,” Barsby said. “Some of the guys (on the team) started to think they were on his level, and I always joke that Erick is better when the lights are one, so once we started going to tournaments Erick played very well. He was the first guy ever to win our tournament at the top flight. He only lost twice and they are both to guys that are probably going to be top 20 ranked guys in the country.”
    The Bobcats dominated the Flight 2 bracket with junior Frances Yoshimoto taking the singles title. Yoshimoto paired up with sophomore Max Beliankou to claim the doubles title as well.
    Yoshimoto was named GCSU Athlete of the Week for his efforts in the tournament.
    “Frances is a JUCO transfer in his first year (at GCSU) and potentially he can be a good player for us,” Barsby said. “We have to get him in better shape, in the fall he played well in spots, and once we get him going into spring I think he will be fine.”
    Beliankou grabbed his own singles title by sweeping the Flight 3 bracket and sophomore Jaoa Casagrande added another title for the Bobcats in Flight 4.
    The women did not find as much success in Augusta as the men did, but the Lady Bobcats showed that they have a very high level of potential for the coming spring season, as well.
    “On the women’s side, I think we are going to be better than last year,” Barsby said. “We are going to be deeper, on the top, I think, we are going to be about the same. We have only added one player this fall, who is a true freshmen and we are waiting to hear on a ruling from the NCAA about another girl, to get her eligible, and she would fit in at a high spot in the lineup.”
    The true freshmen Barsby mentioned is Bertille Lion. Lion earned a consolation title at the Flight 4 level in Augusta, where she lost only on game over her two consolation wins.
    The other highlight for the Lady Bobcats included senior Sofia Intriago teaming up with junior Gabby Acuna at the Flight 1 doubles level. The pair went 1-1 in the tournament.
    “(The women) had a good fall, we didn’t have a great fall,” Barsby said. “We realize there is definitely some work to do, but I think we are going to be alright.”
    Barsby said the next two months will be dedicated to strength and conditioning in which they will workout four times a week. The workouts will include running five miles a day, weight training and stretching routines.
    “If the team keeps working we are going to be fine,” Barsby said. “The team is a lot younger than it has been and it takes a while to be successful, and this fall has been sort of a wake up call.”

Posted by Colonnade Archives on Oct 12 2007. 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