Georgia Southern 7, Bethune-Cookman 0

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. - Georgia Southern rebounded from a tough start to a three-match road trip with a sweep of the Bethune-Cookman Wildcats Monday afternoon (Feb. 8). The Eagles clinched the doubles point with two wins and took all six singles matches to improve to 2-4 on the year. Bethune-Cookman dropped to 0-3.

"We played two tough opponents over the weekend and I was pleased to see the team take what they learned from those and put it to use today," said head coach Justin Miles. "We are excited to end this road trip on a positive note and ready to open our home season at Hanner this weekend."

GSU opened play earning its first doubles point of the season winning two of three doubles matches to gain the early 1-0 lead. Gregory Bekkers and Juan Manuel Melian Puigventos cruised to an 8-1 decision over Wildcats Marc Vanja Misanovic and Jeffrey Smallwood. The Eagle duo recorded their first dual match win with the victory while Alain Garrido and Matthijs Verdam secured the doubles point for the Eagles with an 8-3 routing over Kip Jackson and Yannick Jackson.

Greg Streat and Cristian Cruz won the only Wildcat doubles match with an 8-6 decision over Justin Flynn and Jayraj Jadeja despite the Eagle pair overcoming a 3-0 deficit to tie the match at 3-all.

Senior Bekkers pushed Georgia Southern's lead out to 2-0 dropping only one game en route to a 6-0, 6-1 crushing of Streat at the No. 3 seed. Garrido extended the Eagle advantage minutes later bypassing Jackson from the four seed, 6-3, 6-1, as senior Jadeja clinched the match for Georgia Southern at the two seed. The senior uprooted Emil Vassilev, 6-1, 6-3, and the Eagles stood at 4-0 with three singles matches still in progress.

Verdam finished next defeating Cruz, 6-1, 6-2, while Edio Castanhel, a Criciuma, Brazil native, came back from a first set loss to take the match in a super tiebreak. The sophomore fell 6-4 in the opening set to Jackson, but rebounded with a 6-2 second frame and closed out the win 10-7 in the super tiebreak.

Moving into the No. 1 singles position, Melian Puigventos continues to display a promising start to his freshman campaign as the Eagle edged Misanovic in straight sets. The Eagle battled through a tough match for a 6-4, 6-3 win to complete the match sweep for Georgia Southern.

After six straight matches on the road, the Eagles return to Statesboro to open the home schedule on Saturday, Feb. 13. First serve against Jacksonville University is slated for noon at the Hanner Tennis Complex.


Wofford 7, Brevard 0

SPARTANBURG, S.C. - On Monday afternoon the Wofford Men's Tennis team captured its second victory of the season over the visiting Brevard College Tornados 7-0 at the Reeves Tennis Center. The victory improved the Terriers record to 2-2 on the season while the Tornados dropped to 0-1 on the season.

The victory marked the fourteenth straight home victory for the Terriers. This record stretches back to February 28, 2008 when Wofford defeated UNC Ashville 7-0. This is the longest home winning streak in men's tennis history.

Wofford was able to take an early lead in the match by capturing the doubles point. Tinus Van Wyk and Drew Superstein cruised to an 8-1 victory at number three doubles. Paul Bartholomy and Alan Donald clinched the doubles point by taking an 8-4 win at number one doubles. Tinus Van Wyk said "I thought my doubles partner; Drew Superstein did a fantastic job today in doubles. This year has been a lot of fun so far and we are really pushing each other. Everyone is working really hard and showing good energy in practice. We just have to keep working hard and try everyday to get a little better each time we step on the court. Today's match was helpful in getting us closer to where we want to be".

In singles action the Terriers won all six matches in straight sets.  Paul Bartholomy cruised to a 6-0, 6-0 win at number four singles to get things started for Wofford. At number two singles Stuart Robertson won by a score of 6-1, 6-0. Alan Donald provided the match clinching point at number three singles with a 6-2, 6-1 victory. Tinus Van Wyk achieved a 6-1, 6-1 victory at number one singles. At number six singles Michael Schecter won by a score of 6-1, 6-1. To complete the match sweep Drew Superstein won at number five singles by a score of 6-2, 6-2.

Team captain Paul Bartholomy said "Brevard came out and competed hard early in the doubles, but all of our hard work and determination shined through as the match went on. Thing are coming together nicely. As a team, we are definitely better than we were two weeks ago".

After the match Head Coach Rod Ray said "I thought we showed maturity in our approach to today's match against a solid Brevard team. Having a few matches under our belt, definitely gave us an advantage, but that being said, I think our guys did a great job of staying focused and executing their plays. We have some great matches in February and we will need to approach each one with the same focus that we had today".

The Terriers will be back in action on Thursday February 11 at 3:00 pm at the Reeves Tennis center against Costal Carolina.