Tennis has mixed results against Columbus State
GCSU’s men slashed through CSU’s singles teams, only giving up two matches.
The No. 8 singles player in the nation, senior Erick Siqueira, defeated Dimitri Caron in twin 6-1 sets. Fellow senior Justin Pickham matched up against Frank Suarez in a three-set match. Pickham pulled it out against the No. 23 player in the country, winning 6-2, 6-7, 6-3. The third senior, No. 24-ranked Francis Yoshimoto, defeated Nemanja Djuric 6-4, 6-0.
The men’s team suffered two singles losses to the Cougars. Junior Giovane Nucci lost out to Paul van Rensburg 4-6, 7-6, 2-6. Max Beliankou, who was suffering from cramps and a minor injury, struggled against Diego Motivar, losing 6-4, 4-6, 2-6.
Coming back from being down in the third set, Joao Casagrande won the final match of the tournament against Luis Gonzalez 4-6, 6-3, 7-5.
Coach Barsby was pleased with Casagrande’s tournament-winning victory.
“Joao, who clenched the final match for us, has struggled with that before so it was good to see him pull off the win,” Barsby said. “Something like [a come from behind victory] early in the season brings all the guys together because they were pumped up about it.”
Prior to the men’s singles matches, the day got off to a rocky start with the men’s team only winning one doubles match.
The No. 2 doubles team in the country, Siqueira and Pickham, defeated the No. 16 duo Suarez and Gonzalez 8-3. Casagrande and Yoshimoto fell to the Cougars’ Caron and Rensburg 8-4.
Max Beliankou and Giovane Nucci faced up against Diego Motivar and Nemanja Djuric in an extremely heated match. The Bobcats were able to force a tiebreaker, but faltered, losing 9-8 to the Cougars.
Despite the victory over the Cougars, Barsby remained focused on improvement.
“We didn’t play great, but we played solid,” Barsby said. “We need to improve our doubles with the guys.”
The women’s team stumbled against Columbus State’s No. 5 ranked women’s teams as well.
In doubles, seniors Gabby Acuna and Marjorie Ceppo fought hard against the Cougars’ Eva Petschnig and Hanane Toumi, but fell 8-1.
The twosome of junior Diane Danna and sophomore Bertille Lion battled Roxana Dondera and Gabriela Vasilescu, but ended up losing 8-6.
GCSU’s Adriana Acuna and Angy Cuellar were outmatched against Columbus State’s Daniela Castillo and Lindsey Groenewald falling 8-0.
In women’s singles, the Bobcats were outplayed by the Cougars.
At the number one slot, No. 48 Ceppo challenged No. 5 Petschnig, but lost out in the end 6-3, 6-1.
Junior Danna took on Dondera from the Cougars losing 6-1, 6-3. Lion was defeated by the Cougars’ Toumi 6-1, 6-3.
Both of the Acuna sisters fell to the Cougars. Gabby lost out to Vasilescu 6-3, 6-0, and Adriana was defeated by Erin Reynolds 6-1, 6-1.
Coach Barsby was not too concerned over the women’s loss.
“The women are working hard, it’s just we started our season with the No. 3 and No. 5 teams in the country,” Barsby said. “I think we’re a lot better than we’ve shown so far.”
Posted by Colonnade Archives
on Feb 20 2009. Filed under Sports.
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