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Men's Tennis' Withers and Hairston Finish Second in Doubles, Five Place in the Top Eight in Singles

       

Men's Tennis' Withers and Hairston Finish Second in Doubles, Five Place in the Top Eight in Singles

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CHAPEL HILL, N.C. -- Coastal Carolina's men's tennis team participated in its second tournament of the fall season, competing in the 2007 UNC Invitational at Cone-Kenfield Tennis Center, Sept. 21-23. The doubles duo of junior Joseph Withers (Peoria, Ill./Dunlap/Liberty) and freshman John Hairston (Myrtle Beach, S.C./Myrtle Beach) advanced to the finals in C Doubles. Meanwhile, five Chanticleers placed in the top eight of their respective singles flights.

"Heading up there, we knew the competition level was going to be strong," Head Coach Chris Powers said. "We played relatively well and the guys matured as a team. They saw what it is going to take on the practice courts to be at the level they can be."

Withers and Hairston was the lone Coastal pair to advance in doubles action. The pair made it through the first two rounds before ultimately falling to Charlotte's Anders/Morritz duo.

Sophomore Dmitry Vlaskin (Moscow, Russia/Moscow 1201/Arkansas) took seventh in the Blue (A) Singles. He started the tournament with a win over Florida State's Bradley Mixson 6-4, 4-6, 6-4, but fell to eventual third-place finisher Ivan Milivojevic of South Carolina State 6-0, 6-2. Vlaskin concluded the tournament with a loss to North Carolina's Clay Donato.

The Green (B) Singles had sophomore Ernesto Ramos (Tampico, Mexico/Instituto Andes/Jacksonville) and senior David Mellis (London, England/Goffs) placing sixth and seventh, respectively.  Ramos posted a 6-2, 6-1 victory over Elon's Philip Nemec, while Mellis earned a 6-0, 6-2 win over North Carolina's Lenny Gullan. Both players lost their next round matches and ended up playing each other to determine who would play for fifth place and who would play for seventh. Ramos came out on top with an 8-2 win and went on to play East Carolina's Bryan Oakely, who defeated Ramos 6-1, 6-2. Meanwhile, Mellis topped Charlotte's Felix Bernhoerster 6-4, 7-6.

Freshman Omar El Bouskouri (Meznes, Morocco/Schiller) finished sixth in Orange (C) Singles. He beat Richmond's Matt Farina 6-4, 7-5. El Bouskouri faced eventual Orange Singles champion Chase Helpingstone in the next round and lost 6-3, 6-2.

Hairston was eight in Garnet (C) Singles and beat East Carolina's David Masciorini 6-4, 0-6, 7-5. In the next round, Hairston the lost to Charlotte's Jeff Archer, who took second in the Garnet Singles.

Coastal returns to action Friday, Sept. 28, with the Hidden Double Dual against Francis Marion.