Florida State 6, Georgia Southern 0
Georgia Southern 6, Florida Gulf Coast 1

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. - Georgia Southern split a double-header in Florida falling to the 13^th-ranked Florida State Seminoles in the morning, but rebounded with a 6-1 win over Florida Gulf Coast in the afternoon (January 23). The Eagles dropped the opening doubles point, but swept the singles matches for the 6-1 win over FGCU. Georgia Southern improved to 1-2 on the year with the win.

Georgia Southern opened the day's play facing off against No. 13 Florida State, falling 6-0. Due to the number of matches scheduled on the day, only singles were played in the morning matches. The Seminoles took a 2-0 lead dropping only seven games in two matches at the six and three seeds. A straight set victory from the top seed put Florida State within one point of clinching the match as Connor Smith handled Gregory Bekkers at the four seed, 6-4, 6-1, to seal the win.

In the afternoon match, Georgia Southern challenged Florida Gulf Coast, rebounding from a doubles point deficit to sweep the singles for a 6-1 win. FGCU took two of three doubles matches to gain the early match lead, 1-0, but Georgia Southern raged back with wins at all singles seeds for the victory.

Juan Manuel Melian Puigventos quickly tied the match at 1-all with a crushing of Matthew Rock, 6-1, 6-0, from the two seed. Recording his first dual match win of the season, Alain Garrido handled Steve Binniger, dropping only three games for a straight set victory, 6-1, 6-2, at the four seed.   

Jayraj Jadeja pushed the Eagles to the brink of victory with a 6-3, 6-2 win over Thibaud Aime from the top seed and sophomore Edio Castanhel followed in common suit with a straight set win to clinch the match. Castanhel cruised to a 6-1 first set win over Gabriel Echeverry at the six seed and sealed the comeback win for Georgia Southern with a 6-3 second set win. Matthijs Verdam and Bekkers closed out the match with wins from the four and three seeds, respectively, to complete the sweep of singles action.

"I'm very proud of the team for fighting back and recovering from doubles play in the second match," said head coach Justin Miles. "We didn't play the best doubles we could have, and we know we need to work on that aspect of our game, but we kept our heads held high and came out strong for singles action to get the win."

The Eagles return to the court on Sunday, January 24 at Florida A&M. First serve is slated for 11 a.m.

Duke 7, Elon 0

DURHAM, N.C. -- Alberto Rojas fought tooth and nail with 77th-ranked Torsten Wietoska before dropping a straight-set decision in 70th-ranked Elon's 7-0 defeat at the hands of 19th-rated Duke in the men's tennis season-opener for both squads on Saturday evening.  
 
After the Phoenix's number three doubles tandem of Clark Howell and Thomas Darling fell 8-0 to the Blue Devils' Jared Pinsksy and Alain Michel, Rojas and his partner Eric Turner fought Duke's Dylan Arnould and Wietoska closely before falling 8-5 at number two.
 
At number one doubles, Elon's Philip Nemec and Chase Helpingstine nearly upset the eighth-ranked duo of Henrique Cunha and Reid Carleton, but came out on the short end of an 8-6 decision.
 
Pinksy knocked off Carlos Arboleda 6-1, 6-0 at number five singles to give Duke a 2-0 advantage in the match.  After Turner fell to Carleton 6-0, 6-1, Nemec dropped a 6-1, 6-2 contest to Cunha, who is ranked 17th in the country, to clinch the match for the Blue Devils.
 
At number four, Rojas came up just short in the first set, falling 6-4.  In the second set, Wietoska was able to hold off a valiant effort by the Phoenix junior for a 7-5 victory.
 
At number three singles, 62nd-ranked Arnould dispatched Helpingstine 6-2, 6-4 while Luke Marchese knocked off Darling 6-1, 6-1 at number six.
 
Elon will return to action on January 30 with a noon match against East Tennessee State which will be played in Williamsburg, Va. at William & Mary.


Tennessee 7, Chattanooga 0

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. - The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga men's tennis team dropped a 7-0 decision at No. 5 Tennessee tonight.  The Mocs are 0-2 on the year, falling to a pair of in-state, ranked foes from the Southeastern Conference in the Vols and No. 55 Vanderbilt to start the season. 

Despite getting shutout, the Mocs showed improvement against one of the top teams in the nation.  All three doubles teams took at least four games in each match.  In singles action, freshman Jackson Tresnan won the second set against Taylor Patrick.  It was the first set won by a Moc in two matches this season. 

Continuous improvement is important to a team as young as UTC.  Five freshmen were in the singles line-up for the second-straight match.  Freshman Chris Smith had a solid showing at No. 4, falling to Edward Jones in a hard-fought 6-4, 7-6 affair.  Fellow freshman Ryan Pool also battled in a 7-6, 6-4 loss to Tennys Sandgren. 

The Mocs are back in action next weekend when they open home play at the Hixson Racquet Club.  UTC hosts Lipscomb at 5:00 p.m. (E.S.T.) on Friday, Jan. 29 and UAB at 10:00 a.m. on Sunday, Jan. 31.