CCU

Men's Tennis Suffers 5-2 Setback Against No. 47 Radford

       

Men's Tennis Suffers 5-2 Setback Against No. 47 Radford

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CONWAY, S.C. – The Coastal Carolina University men's tennis team fell 5-2 to No. 47 Radford Monday, March 23 at the Billy Nichols Tennis Center. With the loss, the Chanticleers drop to 11-4 overall and 1-1 in the Big South, while Radford moves to 12-3 on the season and 4-0 in league play.

 

In doubles, court one finished first as Radford's No. 50 duo of Martin Sayer and Zack Watson defeated senior German Perez and junior Ernesto Ramos 8-5. At No. 2, juniors Dmitry Vlaskin and Plamen Tzvetkov fell 8-4 to Ivan Salec and Mehdi Benhammou, snapping the pairs' nine-match win streak. Senior Joseph Withers and sophomore John Hairston finished shortly after falling 8-5 to Igor Ogrizek and Stefan Bojic to give the Highlanders the first point of the day.

 

At No. 1 singles, Perez was facing the three-time Big South Player of the Year in Sayer and dropped a 6-0, 6-1 decision to the Highlander, while Ramos fell 6-3, 6-0 to Salec on court two. After taking the first three points, Radford looked to be in command with a 3-0 lead but the Chants began to battle back starting with Vlaskin on court four, who defeated Benhammou 6-4, 6-3 to earn Coastal Carolina's first point of the day. At court three, Tzvetkov won his match in straight sets knocking off Bojic 6-3, 7-5 to put the score at 3-2 with two matches still in play. The crowd shifted to the final two courts at No. 5 and No. 6, where sophomore Dorian Sovic was moving into a third set on court six with Ogrizek, while Withers and Watson were involved in a tight third-set battle. It was Radford's Watson who came away with the victory after going up 5-3 and would hold his serve for the match-clinching point defeating Withers 4-6, 6-3, 6-3. Sovic followed quickly after dropping a 6-3, 5-7, 6-4 decision to Ogrizek.

 

"The match let us know what we need to work on the rest the way," Head Coach Chris Powers commented. "Radford is the strongest team in the league right now and we are going to work hard through the rest of our conference season to improve and keep our goals in sight for the spring."

 

The Chanticleers will play the next three matches on the road starting with UNC Charlotte Saturday, March 28. First serve is slated for 10 a.m.