Valdosta too much for Bobcats, men bounce back with Erskine victory

The GCSU tennis teams had an-up-and-down week which included convincing defeats for both squads against Valdosta State and a dominating win for the men’s team against Erskine.

This past Tuesday, the men’s squad left the Centennial Center courts in victory after defeating visiting Erskine, in the team’s second shutout win (9-0) in their three tournaments this season. Sophomore Jerome Leborgne said that Erskine was a greater challenge than Morehouse in the season-opener, but that they were not nearly as good as Valdosta State.

“All of us won pretty easy, but the real test for us will be the upcoming matches, especially against Armstrong,” Leborgne said.

Both the men’s and women’s teams had a tough time the previous Thursday against Valdosta State at the Centennial Center Tennis Facility. Both the men and women were in action, and both fell to their southern visitor, by 7-2 and 8-1 respectively, in what was each team’s second match of the 2010 season.

Having dominated their season-opener against Morehouse, the No. 11 men’s team started off with losses in all three doubles against older and more experienced opponents. These defeats were followed by four losses and two wins in singles.

“They were tall, served well, and had great volleys. Sometimes that is simply enough,” freshman Johan Wadstein said after losing an intense 6-3, 7-6 singles match, which was the Swede’s second match ever as a Bobcat.

On the adjacent court, sophomore Jerome Leborgne fell hard in a 6-0, 6-2 match at first singles, while seniors Max Beliankou and Giovane Nucci both pushed their singles matches to three sets before being toppled; Beliankou by 6-3, 2-6, 6-1, and Nucci in a 6-3, 1-6, 10-7 battle.

The two GCSU wins came from two freshmen, in the fourth and sixth singles. In the fourth, freshman Leo Bernardes won a close 6-3, 3-6, 6-3 battle to remain undefeated as a Bobcat. Watching the match from the sidelines, freshman Wictor Andersson said that Valdosta was just as good as expected. Nevertheless, Andersson later managed to defeat his opponent by 7-6, 6-2, in the day’s final single. Like Bernardes, Andersson is unbeaten this season.

The GCSU women shared the mens’ harsh experiences, dropping to the Valdosta women’s team by 8-1. The sole win for GCSU came in an 8-6 doubles match featuring the French duo of senior Diane Dana and junior Bertille Lion.

“Valdosta is always really good. We knew what we were going into,” head coach Steve Barsby said.

“We wanted to see where we were,” he said, adding that he in spite of the defeats was pleased with the overall performance.

“(I’m) pretty happy. We are young and Valdosta is an older team. We look at this year as a growing year,” he said, before emphasizing the fact that last year’s team might be difficult to live up to this year. Regarding the performance of the freshmen, Barsby said they were working hard and doing well.

“They are young. They will probably end up winning some matches they should not have won, as well as losing some they should have won.”

Thursday’s matches against Lees-McRae were canceled due to inclement weather. The Bobcats will face Limestone tomorrow at 1 p.m.

Posted by Colonnade Archives on Feb 19 2010. 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