CCU

Men's Tennis Falls 4-3 to Winthrop

       

Men's Tennis Falls 4-3 to Winthrop

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CONWAY, S.C. – The Coastal Carolina University men's tennis team surrendered a 4-3 decision to Winthrop Saturday, April 4 at the Billy Nichols Tennis Center. The Chanticleers went ahead 3-1 to open the match, but the Eagles battled back to win the final three singles matches for the win. With the loss, the Chants drop to 14-5 overall and 3-2 in the Big South and Winthrop improves to 8-9 on the season and 4-1 in the league.

 

Even with the loss, the Chanticleers clinch third place in the Big South standings with one conference match remaining on the schedule. This is the highest Coastal Carolina has finished in the league since Head Coach Chris Powers took over in 2004.

 

The Chants won all three doubles matches on the day, with juniors Dmitry Vlaskin and Plamen Tzvetkov cruising to an 8-1 victory over Sergey Belov and Daniel Daudt on court two. Senior German Perez and junior Ernesto Ramos defeated Diego Toledo and Roy Sichel 8-6 on court one, while senior Joseph Withers and sophomore John Hairston edged out Winthrop's Arthur Takahashi and Nadav Ruppin 9-8 at No. 3.

 

In singles play, Ramos was defeated 6-1, 6-3 by Sichel, who earned Winthrop's first point of the match at the No. 1 spot. On court three, Vlaskin put the Chanticleers ahead 2-1 in the match with a 6-3, 6-3 victory over Ruppin. Perez battled through a tough three-set match with Belov and prevailed coming away with a 6-3, 2-6, 6-4 victory to give Coastal Carolina a 3-1 advantage. Winthrop erased the deficit quickly as Toledo defeated Tzvetkov 6-0, 7-6 on court four and Takahashi got past sophomore Dorian Sovic 6-3, 6-3 at the No. 5 position to even the score at three matches apiece. The final match of the day came on court six, where Withers dropped a 6-4, 6-2 decision to Daudt and Winthrop walked away with the 4-3 victory.

 

"It came down to finishing the match and we fell short down the order," Powers commented. "I'm proud of the guys who fought today. I'm looking forward to celebrating the seniors on Wednesday and I know we will rebound from today. The most important matches are still to be played."

 

The Chanticleers return to the Billy Nichols Tennis Center for their final home match of the season Wednesday, April 8 when they host Binghamton at 1 p.m. This match will mark the last home match for Coastal Carolina seniors Joseph Withers and German Perez.