Siquiera wins big match, Bobcats fall to Valdosta

    Wins at first singles were the only bright spots for the GCSU tennis squads Tuesday, as both teams fell to highly ranked Valdosta State University squads at home.
    Redshirt junior Erick Siqueira, individually ranked No. 3 in Division II, grabbed the No. 17 men’s lone win in the highlight match of the competition by beating No. 4 Florian Halb.
    “It was a good match,” Siqueira said. “(Halb), I think, didn’t put in as much effort as he could have.”
    Siqueira easily handled Halb, beating him 6-2 in the first set and putting the match away 6-4 in the second.
    “I think he could play a lot better than he did,” Siqueira said.
    Siqueira grabbed the momentum early with a combination of speed and agility; he also showed that he had the more consistent serve.
    Halb struggled to get his first serves in throughout the match.
    “Erick played well,” head tennis coach Steve Barsby said. “I think the guy he played is good, I don’t know how good he played today, but Erick was Erick today. He was solid, and if he plays that way – if the guy let’s down a bit – when he plays (Erick), he’s going to beat him. He’s that solid.”
    The win improves Siqueira to 15-1 on the season, while Halb drops to 8-5.
    Senior Celine Martin grabbed a come-from-behind win at first singles for the No. 15 GCSU women’s squad.
    After falling 6-1 in the first set to the No. 4 Blazer’s No. 24 Dominique Roethlaender, Martin rallied to win the second set 7-5 and take the match with a 6-4 win in the third.
    “It was unexpected (to win the match),” Martin said. “In the beginning (Roethlaender) was playing well and I made a few mistakes, just thinking about doubles. But I saw that in their second sets everybody was coming back, and I was the only one down still, so I decided I could do it, and came back and just tried to give myself a chance.”
    Those would be the only GCSU victories of the day.
    Junior Francis Yoshimoto, ranked No. 22, dropped his match to No. 10 Joerg Ekkenga for only his second loss of the season, while sophomore Max Beliankou dropped his third match of the year to No. 14 Leos Jelinek.
    Bobcat junior Marjorie Ceppo and sophomore Dianne Danna each dropped their matches in straight sets to ranked Blazers.
    No. 16 Raphaelle Durante beat Ceppo 6-3, 6-4 for the win at second singles, while Danna fell 6-2, 6-4 to No. 21 Natali Gumbecht.
    The Blazers swept both GCSU teams in doubles.
    No. 2 Valdosta’s first doubles team of Ekkenga and Jelinek topped Siqueira and Yoshimoto 8-6, while Halb teamed up with Richard Malobicky to defeat senior Matthew Belenchia and sophomore Jaoa Casagrande 8-5.
    “I feel like (the doubles match) was close,” Siqueira said. “We had a couple of chances. In the doubles match everyone is good and you have to take your chances. I just got frustrated because I felt like we had the chance, but we ended up losing. We still played well and I think we can see some positives and a few things we can keep working on.”
    Valdosta’s women dominated the Bobcats.
    Ceppo and Martin fell at first doubles to the team of Roethlaender and Tina Trautmann, while Durante and Karine Redon beat Danna and teammate senior Sofia Intriago in a close match that ended 8-6.
    Despite the loss Barsby remains confident in his teams.
    “Valdosta is a real good team,” Barsby said. “Like I said to the girls before (the match), they’re not in our region, this game means nothing as far as regional rankings, it means nothing as far as the Peach Belt (Conference). I told them to compete, and we did. You know, we played well; we had a bunch of close matches. The goal is to get ready for the Peach belt. It served its purpose.”
    Barsby is more concerned about the men’s team than the women’s.
    “We’re not there yet with the guys,” he said. “That’s two matches in a row where I just don’t think we’ve played well.”
    Each team has two PBC matches left in the season.
    “The girls (are) about where I thought they should be,” Barsby said. “They’re playing well, and they’re deep. The bad thing is, is the Peach Belt has gotten unbelievable in women’s tennis. The guys have surprised me a little bit because we have done a lot better at one, two and three than I thought we were going to do. They’ve stepped it up, but if we’re going to do well in the Peach Belt (Tournament), we need four, five and six to step up.
    GCSU’s tennis team’s final to matches will be at home. They host the University of South Carolina at Aiken on Sunday and Augusta State University on Monday.

Posted by Colonnade Archives on Apr 11 2008. 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