Tusculum, Newberry, Catawba Advance In Food Lion SAC Men’s Tennis Tournament

ROCK HILL -- Tusculum, Newberry and Catawba all advanced in the quarterfinals of the 2007 Food Lion SAC Men's Tennis Tournament. They will join top seed Presbyterian in the semifinals, which will be held Friday at Mars Hill College.

No. 2 Tusculum 5, No. 7 Wingate 1

GREENEVILLE, Tenn. -- Second-seeded Tusculum College defeated No. 7 Wingate University 5-1 Monday afternoon in a quarterfinal match of the 2007 Food Lion South Atlantic Conference Men's Tennis Tournament, held at the Nichols Tennis Complex.

With the win, the Pioneers (14-5) advance to Friday morning's tournament semifinal against Newberry. Friday's match will be held on the campus of Mars Hill College beginning at 9 a.m.

Tusculum (ranked No. 39 in NCAA Division II) captured two of the three doubles points, including an 8-3 pro set win at the No. 1 flight by Carlos Garcia and Sergio Espinosa over the Wingate duo of Hendrik Ternieden and Brendan Molan.

Wingate's lone point of the day game at No. 2 doubles as Jose Valarezo and Brandon Thornton defeated Henrique Rodrigues and Leo Guaycurus 8-4.

Hunter Beal tallied Tusculum's third point of the match with his 6-0, 6-0 win over Felipe Fidalgo at No. 6 singles. Rodrigues bounced back with a straight set win at No. 4 singles, while Garcia wrapped up the match with a 6-1, 6-0 victory at the third flight.

No. 2 Tusculum 5, No. 7 Wingate 1
Singles
1 - Sergio Espinosa (TC) vs. Brandon Thornton (WU), DNF
2 - Nicolas Bigler (TC) vs. Hendrik Ternieden (WU), DNF
3 - Carlos Garcia (TC) def. Jose Valarezo, 6-1, 6-0
4 - Henrique Rodrigues (TC) def. Brendan Molan, 6-3, 6-1
5 - Leo Guaycurus (TC) vs. Luis Ortiz (WU), DNF
6 - Hunter Beal (TC) def. Felipe Fidalgo, 6-0, 6-0
Doubles
1 - Garcia/Espinosa (TC) def. Ternieden/Molan, 8-3
2 - Valarezo/Thornton (WU) def. Rodrigues/Guaycurus, 8-4
3 - Julien Jacob/Bigler (TC) def. Ortiz/Fidalgo, 8-4
Records: Tusculum 14-5; Wingate 4-16

No. 3 Newberry 5, No. 6 Carson-Newman 0

NEWBERRY, S.C. - Third-seeded Newberry College claimed a 5-0 victory over No. 6 seed Carson-Newman College to advance to the semifinals of the 2007 Food Lion South Atlantic Conference Men's Tennis Tournament here Monday.

Newberry (10th in the Southeast Region, 7-7) moves on to face second-seeded Tusculum (39th nationally, 7th regionally, 14-5) in Friday's semifinal match at Mars Hill College. The match is scheduled to begin at 9 a.m.

The Indians started the match off hot, claiming all three doubles points, including a top flight 8-5 win by the South African tandem of Jeremy Smith and Daryl Van Vuuren over C-N's Preston Sneed and Matt Stanley. Atlantans Mikael Jurkovic and Scott Gates won, 8-1, in the third flight ove John Borthick and Matt Martin, while Maxim Sukharev and Felipe Sobrinho were 8-2 winners over Jack Harvie and Mike Swanson.

Gates' beat Martin at No. 6, 6-1 and 6-0, to put Newberry within a point of victory, while Sobrinho's 6-1 and 6-0 win over Borthick at No. 5 sealed the Indians' first-ever trip to the last four of the SAC Tournament.

Singles
1. Maxim Sukharev (NEW) vs. Michael Swanson (C-N) 1-6, 3-2, DNF
2. Daryl Van Vuuren (NEW) vs. Matt Stanley (C-N) 7-5, 1-1, DNF
3. Jeremy Smith (NEW) vs. Preston Sneed (C-N) 6-1, 1-6, 0-0, DNF
4. Lucas Mattos (NEW) vs. Jack Harvie (C-N) 6-1, 4-0, DNF
5. Felipe Sobrinho (NEW) def. John Borthick (C-N) 6-1, 6-0
6. Scott Gates (NEW) def. Matt Martin (C-N) 6-1, 6-0

Doubles
1. Daryl Van Vuuren/Jeremy Smith (NEW) def. Matt Stanley/Preston Sneed (C-N) 8-5
2. Maxim Sukharev/Felipe Sobrinho (NEW) def. Michael Swanson/Jack Harvie (C-N) 8-2
3. Scott Gates/Mikael Jurkovic (NEW) def. John Borthick/Matt Martin (C-N) 8-1

No. 4 Catawba 5, No. 5 Mars Hill 3

SALISBURY, NC -- Catawba advanced to the 2007 Food Lion South Atlantic Conference Men's Tennis Tournament with a 5-3 win over visiting Mars Hill on Monday afternoon at the Johnson Tennis Center. The fourth-seeded Catawba Indians improve to 19-4 and advance to face top-seeded Presbyterian on Friday morning in semifinal action at Mars Hill, NC. The Lions, seeded-fifth, end their season at 8-10.

Mars Hill grabbed the opening point with a win by John Allen and Francisco Contreras at No. 1 doubles, but Catawba rallied to win the other two doubles matches for a 2-1 lead. Sean Soltan and Fernando Aguiar teamed for a win at No. 2, while Hector Bousoulas and Cyle Peterson claimed a victory at the No. 3 position.

The Indians went up 3-1 after a singles win by Petersen, but Mars Hill evened the match as Contreras and Andrew Waldrop won at the No. 2 and No. 4 slots. Catawba would move ahead 4-3 on Drew Ramsey's win at No. 6 and picked up the winning point with Aguiar's victory at No. 3.

CATAWBA 5, MARS HILL 3
Singles
#1 Jose Velazquez (C) tied John Allen (MH) 6-2, 5-7, DNF
#2 Francisco Contreras (MH) d. Sean Soltan 6-4, 6-0
#3 Fernando Aguiar (C) d. Taylan Batuk 7-6 (8-6), 6-2
#4 Andrew Waldrop (MH) d. Hector Bousoulas 3-6, 6-2 retired
#5 Cyle Petersen (C) d. Marco Castaneda 6-1, 6-0
#6 Drew Ramsey (C) d. Drew Belton 6-3, 7-5

Doubles
#1 Allen/Contreras (MH) d. Velazquez/Ramsey 8-2
#2 Soltan/Aguiar (C) d. Batuk/Castaneda 8-3
#3 Bousoulas/Petersen (C) d. Oscar Gomez/Bobby Roddy 8-2

RECORDS: Catawba 19-5; Mars Hill 8-10.