Tennis finds mixed results against tough competition
The GCSU men’s and women’s tennis teams had a tough week against top-level competition. The men’s squad was able to salvage a 2-2 week with wins Sunday and Tuesday after dropping Friday and Saturday matches to top-15 opponents, while the women’s squad could not find a win in three matches over the span.
Most recently, the men’s team faced Concord on Tuesday, overpowering the Lions 9-0 with a lineup not normally seen from the Bobcats. Head coach Steve Barsby moved some players around, resting seniors Joao Casagrande and Giovane Nucci.
This allowed the younger Bobcats a chance to shine, as freshmen Tyler Franks and Johan Wadstein each picked up wins at singles and doubles, and fellow freshman Wictor Andersson earned a victory at fifth singles. The sophomores impressed as well, with Jerome Leborgne and Leo Bernardes picking up two wins each and Bobby Angelucci grabbing a doubles victory.
Senior Max Beliankou was reliable as usual, picking up two more wins to improve to 8-2 in singles, the best record for the Bobcats this season.
Both squads were in action every day of last weekend. Friday saw the Bobcat squads face Francis Marion, who has both of its teams in the top 15 nationally. The No. 4 women’s team defeated the Bobcats 6-3, though GCSU was up 2-1 after doubles, thanks to strong wins from the French first doubles pair of senior Diane Danna and junior Bertille Lion, and the third doubles duo of sophomore Adriana Acuna and freshman Linda Mosa. Danna and Lion’s win came at the expense of the No. 2 doubles duo in the nation.
The No. 11 Bobcat men fell to the No. 15 Patriots 5-4, getting their wins at third doubles from Bernardes and Wadstein, and at third, fifth and sixth singles from Beliankou, Bernardes, and Casagrande, respectively.
“Maybe they were a little better than us that day, maybe we didn’t play as well as we should,” Barsby said. “Like I’ve been saying, we’re gonna win some matches we shouldn’t, and lose some we should win.”
On Saturday, the Bobcat squads were no match for either of the teams from Lynn, and were blanked 5-0 in both men’s and women’s matches. The Fighting Knights are ranked No. 4 in men’s and No. 2 and women’s, and proved their top-five power against GCSU.
On Sunday, the Bobcat men’s squad started slow against Flagler, dropping first and second doubles. Bernardes and Wadstein picked up a victory in third doubles to prevent the sweep.
In singles, the Bobcats exploded for five wins in six matches. Leborgne lost a heartbreaker 6-3, 2-6, 6-4 at first singles, but his teammates more than made up for it. Wadstein took second singles 6-3, 6-3, Beliankou won 6-1, 6-3 at third singles, Nucci took the victory 6-2, 6-3 at the fourth slot, Bernardes won 6-3, 6-1 at fifth, and Casagrande completed the run with a 6-0, 6-1 victory at sixth singles.
The Bobcat women were not as fortunate, falling 6-3 to the Saints. GCSU dropped all three doubles matches, and split the six singles matches, getting wins from Danna at first singles 6-3, 6-4, freshman Kayla Barksdale at the second slot 6-3, 5-7, 6-2, and Lion at third singles 6-3, 3-6, 6-3.
“Our top three girls came out on fire in singles,” Barsby said. “Flagler beat Augusta pretty bad and Augusta beat us, so on paper it looked like a mismatch, so I was really happy with the way the girls played.”
The Bobcats host Lander tomorrow at 1 p.m., with both squads in action.
Posted by Preston Sellers
on Mar 12 2010. Filed under Sports.
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