CCU

Men's Tennis Improves to 13-4 Overall With 4-3 Victory Over UNC Asheville

       

Men's Tennis Improves to 13-4 Overall With 4-3 Victory Over UNC Asheville

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ASHEVILLE, N.C. – In a tightly contested Big South matchup, the Coastal Carolina University men’s tennis team came away with a 4-3 victory over UNC Asheville Monday, March 30 at the Asheville School. The win boosts the Chanticleers to 13-4 on the season and 3-1 in league play, while the Bulldogs fall to 3-14 and 0-5 in the Big South.   Coastal Carolina dropped the doubles point as they adjusted to the fast courts at the Asheville School losing matches at the No 2 and No. 3 positions. Senior German Perez and junior Ernesto Ramos were put to the test by Asheville’s Mauricio Correa and Jonas Brobeck on court one, but the Chanticleer duo prevailed squeezing out the 9-8 victory. On court two, juniors Plamen Tzvetkov and Dmitry Vlaskin fell to Joe May and Nocolai Nonnenbroich 8-6. The Chanticleers’ third doubles pair, senior Joseph Withers and sophomore John Hairston, battled hard on court three but came up short as Nathan White and Alexander Greer earned the 9-7 win and the doubles point for the Bulldogs.   In singles play, two matches went into the books early after players from both squads were forced to retire due to injury. Ramos went ahead 2-1 at the No. 1 spot, but Nonnenborich had to retire after spraining his ankle during play. On court five, Coastal Carolina sophomore Dorian Sovic also took an early exit after injuring his wrist, surrendering the victory to May, who had already charged out to a 5-0 advantage in the first set. The two quick retirements put Asheville ahead 2-1 in the match.   Withers put the Chanticleers back on track with a 6-1, 6-0 victory over Alex Appelt at No. 6 and even the score at 2-2. At the No. 3 spot, Vlaskin grabbed a 6-1, 7-5 victory over Brobeck and the Chanticleers took their first lead of the day with a 3-2 advantage. On court four, Tzvetkov dropped the first set 6-3 to White, but battled back to win the second set 6-1 to push the match into a third set. Tzvetkov was unable to complete the comeback as White claimed another point for the Bulldogs with a 6-4 third-set victory to even the score at three matches apiece.   The deciding match came down to court No. 2, where Perez won the first set 6-4 but Correa came back to take the second set 6-2. With the match on the line, Perez dug deep and pulled out the 6-4 victory in the third set to clinch the match for the Chanticleers.   “Asheville gave us a dogfight today,” Head Coach Chris Powers commented. “It just goes to show how tough conference competition is. We demonstrated great mental toughness in a tight match and German (Perez) was huge for us when it mattered most.”   After a two-match road trip, the Chanticleers return home for their final two home matches of the season starting Saturday, April 4 when they host Winthrop at the Billy Nichols Tennis Center at 10 a.m.