September 26, 2016

Tech men's tennis makes strong showing at Southern Intercollegiate

ATHENS, Ga. -- The Tennessee Tech men?s tennis started its fall slate with some excellent performances at the Southern Intercollegiate Championship, hosted by the University of Georgia. A total of 170 singles players and 81 doubles teams competed in this year?s event, and the Tech players had some great moments in the 49th annual event.

By Thomas Corhern, TTU Sports Information

ATHENS, Ga. – The Tennessee Tech men's tennis started its fall slate with some excellent performances at the Southern Intercollegiate Championship, hosted by the University of Georgia.

A total of 170 singles players and 81 doubles teams competed in this year's event, and the Tech players had some great moments in the 49^th annual event.

Eduardo Mena, ranked No. 93 on the fall ITA rankings, picked up two wins in the Division I singles tournament, defeating Armstrong State's Jan Porteset 7-6, 6-2 in the round of 64, then taking out Texas Tech's Jolan Caileau, ranked 95^th on the ITA poll, in three sets – 6-4, 3-6 and 7-5.

But Mena's singles run ended as the host's Emil Reinberg, ranked 109^th on the ITA list, defeated Tech's ace 7-6, 3-6, 7-6.

Jorge Alfonzo reached the semifinals of the Division III singles tournament, defeating Bjorne Kurtze from Armstrong State (6-3, 7-5), Eastern Kentucky's Diego Asis (6-3, 7-5) and Alex Garcia from UNC Charlotte (6-3, 4-6, 6-4).

His singles run, however, came to a close in the semis, falling 6-4, 4-6, 6-3 to Kennesaw State's Sam Slade.

The doubles pairing of Marcos Bernardes and Guillermo Nicolas picked up two victories, defeating Eastern Kentucky's Sebastian Mueller and Guillem Sanchis (7-6) and UNC Charlotte's Oriol Puig and Alex Garcia (6-4), but the Tech duo fell in the quarterfinals to Clemson's Christian Harris and Sam Edwards in a 6-1 defeat.

Bernardes also had a strong showing in singles, reaching the Division II round of 16 with victories over East Tennessee's Weceslao Albin (6-3, 6-4), Arkansas' Austin Robles (6-3, 6-2), Ole Miss' Robert Mounger (6-3, 6-1), before falling to Louisville's George Hedley in a 6-3, 6-4 decision.

The Golden Eagles return to action on Saturday as they compete in the ITA All-American Pre-qualifying event at the University of Tulsa.

The complete list of results from this weekend's Southern Intercollegiate Championship is below.

Friday

Division I singles – round of 64

Eduardo Mena def. Jan Porteset (Armstrong State), 7-6. 6-2

Spencer Papa (Oklahoma) def. Alberto Esteban 6-3, 6-2

Division I singles – round of 32

Eduardo Mena def. Jolan Caileau (Texas Tech), 6-4, 3-6, 7-5

Division II singles – out matches

Marcos Bernardes def. Wenceslao Albin (East Tennessee State), 6-3, 6-4

Division II singles – round of 64

Guillermo Nicolas def. Stefano Puga (Gardner-Webb) 6-3, 6-3