Men upset Jacksonville State, women fall in close contest in OVC action
The Tennessee Tech men's tennis team upset Jacksonville State, 5-2, Saturday afternoon at Fairfield Glade. In the women's contest, the Golden Eagles narrowly missed an upset of their own, falling 4-3.
CROSSVILLE, Tenn. -- The Tennessee Tech men's tennis team upset
Jacksonville State, 5-2, Saturday afternoon in an Ohio Valley
Conference match played at Fairfield Glade. In the women's contest,
the Golden Eagles narrowly missed an upset of their own, falling
4-3 to the Gamecocks.
The Tech men, picked third in the OVC race, improved to 3-2
overall this spring in dual matches and 1-0 in the conference with
the victory over the Gamecocks, who were picked for second
place.
The Golden Eagle women saw their record slip to 0-2 in dual
matches and 0-1 in the OVC.
In the men's contest, Tech claimed all three doubles contests for
a 1-0 lead in the match. The Golden Eagles the posted wins in the
top three singles events to stake themseles to a 4-0 lead and
clinch the match.
Forst, Nick Stafford eaarned a 6-4, 6-2 victry over Gustavo Holz
at No. 3, followed by a No. 1 singles win from Alex Chen, who
tripped Brian Kenyon, 6-2, 6-1. The clincher came at No. 2 when
Josh Girling walked away with a hard-earned 6-4, 2-6, 6-2 win over
Axel Sundberg.
JSU took its first point with a 6-7, 7-5, 6-3 win at No. 4 by
Henad Marcel over Arturo Santa Ruize. Tech's final point came by
virtue of Lloyd Harris' 6-3, 6-4 victory over Igo Santos at No. 6.
The final match of the day was a 6-1, 4-6, 7-6 (6) win at No. 5 by
JSU's Chris Duke over Oscar Pachon.
The lead changed hands a couple of times
in the women's match before JSU put things away late in the
contest. the Gamecocks swept to all three doubles wins for an early
1-0 lead, but Tech bounced back with singles wins at No. 3 and No.
1 for a 2-1 Golden Eagle lead.
First, Frederika Kahl defeated Juliana Renesto, 6-4, 6-3 at No. 3
to tie the match. In the No. 1 match, Leydi Zora posted a 6-3, 6-3,
straight set win over Viviane Marani.
Jacksonville State tied the match at 2-2 when Martina
Dessbessell posted a 6-4, 7-5 win over Diana Woodcock at No. 2
singles. Shortly after that, JSU went up 3-2 when Kimberly Ferris
outlasted Victoria Cran, 6-4 5-7, 6-1, at No. 4.
The final two matches took to the courts and JSU's Raphaela Lima
earned a 6-2, 6-4 win over Katie Barnhill in the No. 6 position to
clinch the victory for the Gamecocks. Tech's Laura Porras won her
match at No. 5, downing Rafaela Wensel 7-6, 6-4, for Tech's final
point and the one-point margin.
Both teams face a pair of mid-week matches coming up. The women's team plays at Radford on Tuesday at 9 p.m. then faces USC-Upstate Thursday a 1 p.m. in Nashville. For the men, the schedule has Tech at Lipscomb Wednesday at 2 p.m. and meeting USC-Upstate Thurdsday at 1 p.m. in Nashville.
