Troy Drops Two Matches

Friday, March 2

Hattiesburg, MS

1 p.m.

Troy University

University of Southern Mississippi

Photo by: Tyler Myers

3/4/2012 1:59:00 PM | Tennis (M)

By: Matt Mays

Hattiesburg, Miss. – The Troy men's tennis team was plagued by rain all weekend and had to resume two suspended matches on Sunday, falling in both as the Trojans return home for a match on Tuesday.

Troy (1-7) started its day with a neutral court loss to Lamar, 4-3, before finishing out a 4-1 defeat at the hands of host Southern Miss. The Trojans began their match with Lamar on Saturday and started the match with the Golden Eagles on Friday.

"When you get in position to win two matches we had today, you must execute to finish the match," said head coach Eric Hayes. "It doesn't matter how you got to that point.

"These young men must decide if they want to turn this or we will all go down with the ship. There is still plenty of season left to turn this around."

Troy and Lamar began their match with singles play on Saturday, trying to finish ahead of the bad weather, but multiple rain delays prolonged singles play. The two sides split the six singles matches before darkness came, forcing doubles play to finish on Sunday morning.

The Trojans won the first doubles match as Sami Ghorbel and Mansingh Athare won at number one, 8-5. However, Lamar won at numbers two and three, both by a score of 9-7 to take the match by the narrowest 4-3 margin.

Troy had to put the loss in the rearview mirror quickly as they remained on the courts to finished their suspended match with Southern Miss immediately following the loss to Lamar.

Troy lost the doubles point to Southern Miss on Friday and the two sides each grabbed a singles match before the match was suspended due to rain. All four remaining matches were in the midst of, or about to begin, a third set when play was suspended.

However, as play resumed on Sunday, the Golden Eagles quickly grabbed the two matches they needed as they won third sets at numbers five and one, both by a 6-4 margin.

The Trojans will now look to rebound as they return to the courts on Tuesday when they host Austin Peay at the Lunsford Tennis Complex in Troy at 2:00 p.m. Both the Troy men and women will host the Governors on Tuesday.

Be sure to visit TroyTrojans.com for more information on Troy Athletics. Fans can also find Troy on Twitter at @TroyAthletics or become fans on Facebook at www.Facebook.com/TroyAthletics.

Lamar 4, Troy 3
Hattiesburg, Miss. - USM Tennis Courts

Singles competition
1. Anas Rouchdi (TROY) def. Ermilov, Denis (LU) 6-2, 7-6 (7-2)
2. Lee, Robert (LU) def. Sami Ghorbel (TROY) 7-6 (7-5), 6-3
3. Mansingh Athare (TROY) def. Horvath, Marton (LU) 6-7 (4-7), 6-4, 6-3
4. Patrick Eichler (TROY) def. Valdenebro, Carlos (LU) 4-6, 7-6 (7-3), 6-3
5. Snyder, Bruno (LU) def. Tadju Davies (TROY) 6-3, 6-1
6. Savkovic, Dusan (LU) def. Andres Sanchez (TROY) 6-2, 7-5

Doubles competition
1. Sami Ghorbel/Mansingh Athare (TROY) def. Horvath, Marton/Lee, Robert (LU) 8-5
2. Valdenebro, Carlos/Ermilov, Denis (LU) def. Patrick Eichler/Anas Rouchdi (TROY) 9-7
3. Snyder, Bruno/Rajamaki, Mikko (LU) def. Andres Sanchez/Tommy Cundy (TROY) 9-7

Match Notes:
Lamar 2-2
Troy 1-7

Southern Miss 4, Troy 1
Hattiesburg, Miss. - USM Tennis Courts

Singles competition
1. Matt Frost (USM) def. Anas Rouchdi (TROY) 7-5, 3-6, 6-4
2. Paulo Alvarado (USM) vs. Sami Ghorbel (TROY) 6-7 (5-7), 6-4, 3-4, unfinished
3. Mansingh Athare (TROY) def. Inaki Belloso (USM) 7-6 (8-6), 7-5
4. Juan Escobar (USM) vs. Patrick Eichler (TROY) 7-6 (7-5), 6-7 (9-11), 3-0, unfinished
5. Jovan Zeljkovic (USM) def. Tadju Davies (TROY) 6-4, 5-7, 6-4
6. Andrew Goodwin (USM) def. Andres Sanchez (TROY) 6-0, 6-1

Doubles competition
1. Matt Frost/Inaki Belloso (USM) vs. Sami Ghorbel/Mansingh Athare (TROY) 6-6, unfinished
2. Paulo Alvarado/Juan Escobar (USM) def. Anas Rouchdi/Andres Sanchez (TROY) 8-4
3. Andrew Goodwin/Michael Elortegui (USM) def. Patrick Eichler/Tadju Davies (TROY) 8-2

Match Notes:
Troy 1-6
Southern Miss 6-5
Order of finish: Doubles (3,2); Singles (6,3,5,1)