Troy University Athletics
Trojans Run Streak to 10 Matches
4/2/2010 9:00:00 PM | Tennis
TROY, Ala. - Fog gave way to sunny skies at the Lunsford Tennis Complex, as the Sun Belt Shootout got underway on the Troy University campus Friday morning. The players from around the conference couldn't ask for better weather on the first day as the clouds gave way to sunny skies and a slight breeze.
The big news of the day came with both of the nationally-ranked teams - Denver and Troy - claimed victories in their opening matches. The 65th-ranked Trojans ran their winning streak to 10 matches, including winning their last three matches at home.
Troy was able to walk away with a 4-0 victory seventh-seeded New Orleans on the opening day, setting up a match with third-seeded Florida Atlantic in the championship semifinals on Saturday morning at 11 am.
The host Trojans jumped ahead of New Orleans quickly in doubles play by winning the point, using victories at number two and three. With the number one team of Luis Henrique Grangeiro and Mario Rolemberg struggling throughout their match, the team of Branko Weber and Xavier Masson walked off the court after just 23 minutes after their match began with an 8-2 victory over the New Orleans' team of Guilherme Rebolo and Rohit Chivukula.
The doubles point was clinched when the team of Guilherme Sahadi wrapped up their match over Abdelrahman and Benjamin Bouhana with an 8-4 victory.
The Trojans were not content sitting on the doubles point, as they won five of the six opening sets in their singles matches. The number six player for Troy (15-3), Guilherme Sahadi put the Trojans up 2-0 in the overall match with a resounding 6-2, 6-1 victory over New Orleans' Rohit Chivukula.
Shortly after Sahadi won his match, the Trojans pushed the overall lead to 3-0 when Branko Weber defeated Ben Smith at number three 6-2, 6-1. The final point of the day came when Xavier Masson won the final match of the day for the Trojans 6-2, 6-3 to clinch the match.
In other matches on the first day of the Sun Belt Shootout:
(1) Denver 4, (8) WKU 0
The 29th-ranked Pioneers grabbed the early lead when they claimed victories in doubles at number one and number three. The team of Andrew Landwerlen and Fabio Biasion claimed an 8-3 victory at number three over WKU's Quinn Saine and Currie Martin to set the stage for the remainder of play.
The number one team of Jens Vorkefeld and Yannick Weihs defeated WKU's Craig Kirchgessner and Thomas Krug 8-6 at number one to clinch the doubles point for the Pioneers.
From there Denver took control of the match, winning easily at number six when Jens Vorkefeld defeated WKU's Lance Freeman 6-0, 6-0. Leading the overall match 2-0, the Pioneers added another point when number five player Andrew Landwerlen defeated WKU's Craig Kirchgessner 6-1, 6-1; leaving the top-seeded team in the tournament just one win away from moving to the semifinals.
The Pioneers wrapped up the match with a resounding 6-0, 6-1 victory by Enej Bonin over WKU's Priyank Gangadharn - sending the Pioneers through to the winner's bracket.
The top-seeded Pioneers advance to play fourth-seeded South Alabama in the championship semifinals at 11 am, while the eighth-seeded Hilltoppers of WKU face fifth-seeded Louisiana-Lafayette in the consolation semifinals.
(3) Florida Atlantic 4, (6) Middle Tennessee 0
After winning the doubles point by the narrowest of margins, the Owls jumped ahead 2-0 when Harradine won over Middle Tennessee's Victor Melo by default after leading 3-1 in the opening set. Florida Atlantic continued to build their lead, pushing it to 3-0 when Georg Matschke defeated Middle Tennessee's Matthew Langley 6-1, 6-3 - giving the Owls four chances to get one more point.
Florida Atlantic wrapped up the match when Matthew Braunworth defeated Middle Tennessee's Kyle Wishing 6-4, 6-4 at number six.
Three other matches were on the court when the deciding point was won by Florida Atlantic - number one, three and four singles.
The Owls and Middle Tennessee battled for nearly 90 minutes in doubles play to determine the point in the opening match of the tournament. The number three team from Florida Atlantic - Marc Abdelnour and Matthew Braunworth - were forced to sit and watch after winning their match 8-6; watching the other two doubles matches go to tiebreakers to determine the point.
However, they were joined by the number team of Middle Tennessee - John Peers and Kyle Wishing - as spectators, after the Blue Raiders top team battled from behind to win their match 9-8 (7-4 in the tiebreaker). Once that match was over, all eyes turned to the battle at number two between Matthew Langley and Victor Melo of Middle Tennessee against Joshua Scholl and Ervin Garibovic of Florida Atlantic. The two teams battled to eight games all, and battled each other point for point in the tiebreaker until Florida Atlantic got a break and won the tiebreaker 7-4 to claim the doubles point.
Third-seeded Florida Atlantic advances to play second-seeded Troy in the championship semifinals at 11 am, while sixth-seeded Middle Tennessee falls into the consolation semifinals at 8:30 am Saturday.
(4) South Alabama 4, (5) Louisiana-Lafayette 1
South Alabama only dropped one match in their opening round fight against fifth-seeded Louisiana-Lafayette Friday morning. The Jaguars were able to clinch the match when Christian Kuehne won his match at number three over Louisiana-Lafayette's Tomasz Kryszkowki 6-4, 6-4.
Before the clinching match, the Jaguars used victories by Alexandre Bernard at number four - defeating Neil Schneider - and at number six where Dauw Kruger picked up a 6-4, 6-2 victory over Alexande Rupertsson.
Louisiana-Lafayette picked up a victory at number three where Javier Pulgar battled back after losing the first set. He was able to come back and win the second and third sets 6-1, 6-1 to claim the victory.
The Jags captured the doubles point early with victories at number two and three, despite struggling at number one. The number two team of Christian Kuehne and Romain Bocaert made short work of the their opponents from Louisiana 8-2; while their teammates - Dauw Kruger and Lucas Viel - at number three took just a few minutes longer in dispatching of Robert Voss and Neil Schneider 8-4. The number one doubles match was halted with Louisiana winning 6-3.
Fourth-seeded South Alabama advances to the championship semifinals Saturday morning at 11 am to face the winner of Denver-WKU. Meanwhile, Louisiana-Lafayette falls to the consolation semifinals beginning at 8:30 am Saturday morning.
DAY TWO SCHEDULE
Match 5 - (1) Denver vs. (4) South Alabama, 11 am
Match 6 - (2) Troy vs. (3) Florida Atlantic, 11 am
Match 7 - (4) Louisiana-Lafayette vs. (8) WKU, 8:30 am
Match 8 - (6) Middle Tennessee vs. (7) New Orleans, 8:30 am
Match 9 - Loser of Match 7 vs. Loser of Match 8 (Seventh Place), 1:30 pm
Match 10 - Winner of Match 7 vs. Winner of Match 8 (Fifth Place), 1:30 pm
Match 11 - Loser of Match 5 vs. Loser of Match 6 (Third Place), 4 pm
Match 12 - Winner of Match 5 vs. Winner of Match 6 (Championship), 4 pm