Troy Rallies To Stun Georgia Southern 4-3

Friday, April 20

Peachtree City, Ga.

2 P.M.

Troy University

Georgia Southern

4/20/2018 6:42:00 PM | Tennis (M)

By: Russ Schaffer

PEACHETREE, Ga. – Troy found itself in a 3-0 hole in the first round of the Sun Belt Championship on Friday but rallied all the way back to stun Georgia Southern and advance with a 4-3 win.

Doubles play just narrowly went against the Trojans (13-10) as Mustapha Belcora and Oskar Michalek fell 6-4 while Pelayo Antuña and Jiaqi Duan dropped their match by the same score.

Things only began to get worse as Michalek fell 7-5 in his first singles set then 6-2 in the second set to spot the Eagles (12-11) their second point. Senior Mustapha Belcora had a virtually identical result as he fell 7-5, 6-1 to put Troy in the 3-0 hole.

The deficit did not last long as Antuña was able to squeeze past Eduardo Landin with a 6-4 win in straight sets to get the Trojans on the scoreboard. Duan then capped off an up-and-down match to win 6-1, 3-6, 6-2 to make things interesting.

After winning his first set 6-3, Andy Lau was narrowly defeated 7-6 in the second set to tie things at one. On court four, Amer Bedwan was going through a similar battle as he rallied to win the second set 6-2 after dropping the first 7-6.

Needing to win both third sets to keep the season going, Bedwan and Lau both kicked it into another gear. The duo left nothing to chance as Lau quickly won his third set 6-1. With things tied at three, Bedwan came through on his end with a decisive 6-2 win to finish off the comeback.

The win marked the second-straight season Troy has won a Sun Belt Championship match after defeating Coastal Carolina 4-0 in the first round last season.

Troy will now face No. 1 seed Georgia State in the semifinals on Saturday at 3 p.m. after the Panthers earned a 4-0 shutout win over No. 8 Coastal Carolina. For more information on Troy men's tennis, visit TroyTrojans.com.