Brevard, Lincoln Memorial Advance In Food Lion SAC Men’s Tennis Tournament

ROCK HILL, S.C. - The No. 4 seeded Lincoln Memorial men's tennis team clinched a quarterfinal victory with a 5-2 win over No. 5 seeded Mars Hill at the Food Lion South Atlantic Conference tournament on Wednesday at the Rock Hill Tennis Center.

Lincoln Memorial's Marcelo Alvim (Sao Palo, Brazil) took a third set from Mars Hill's Enrico Patriarca (Assis, Brazil), 6-3, to win the second flight match for the Railsplitters and clinch the first round win. Alvim won the first set for the Railsplitters, 6-4, while Patriarca won the second 6-1.

"The LMU men's tennis team, starting four freshman, has come a long ways and to beat a really good team like Mars Hill, we're just thrilled for the victory," said LMU head coach Benny Collins. "I'm proud of our guys, we take our hats off to the Lions and we're looking forward to the match and the competition against the Bulldogs."

"We knew the second singles would be a battle," said Mars Hill head coach Jarod Camerota. "There was no doubt it would come down to a third set between those two and their guy fought hard and came up with the win. Our guys battled and I'm proud of them but Lincoln Memorial got the best of us today."

The Railsplitters came out of the doubles round with a 2-1 advantage after the tandem of Philipp Hoffmann (Karlsruhe, Germany) and Tom Goossens (Moerbeke-Waas, Belgium) took an 8-2 win over Mars Hill's Lucas Simm (Curitiba, Brazil) and Patriarca.

Lincoln Memorial University's Marcelo Alvim celebrates a point in the third set of his match against Mars Hill's Enrico Patriarca.

In the second doubles match, the Railsplitters came out ahead 8-3 with Alexey Minevskiy (Taganrog, Russia) and Alvim defeating Guilherme Lima (Sao Paulo, Brazil) and Stevan Stankovic (Herceg Novi, Montenegro). The lone Mars Hill doubles win came with Brad Bassinger (Granite Falls, N.C.) and Carlos Oyaga (Caracas, Venezuela) winning over Michael Koenen (Auckland, New Zealand) and Stefan Hall (Stratford, PEI), 9-7.

Oyaga then tied things up one singles match in after he took down Koenan in straight sets, 6-4 and 6-2, to put it at 2-2.

In the No. 1 singles matchup the Railsplitters Hoffmann grabbed the win from Simm in a tightly contested match, 7-6 (7-4) in set one and 6-4 in set two, to put the Railsplitters back on top in the team scores.

Goossens put Lincoln Memorial within one point of clinching the match when defeated the Lion's Bassinger in three sets. Gossens lost the first, 6-4, but battled from behind to win the second, 6-3, and the third 6-2.

Alvim then kept the Railsplitter's SAC championship dreams alive as he clinched the win with his defeat of Patriarca.

Lincoln Memorial will now meet with No. 1 seeded Wingate Thursday at 9 a.m., in a rematch of last year's tournament championship.

SAC Tennis Tournament
No. 5 Mars Hill vs No. 4 Lincoln Memorial (Apr 20, 2011)
No. 4 Lincoln Memorial 5, No. 5 Mars Hill 2
Apr 20, 2011 at Rock Hill, S.C. (Rock Hill Tennis Center)

Singles competition
1. Philipp Hoffmann (LMU) def. Lucas Simm (MHCM) 7-6 (7-4), 6-4
2. Marcelo Alvim (LMU) def. Enrico Patriarca (MHCM) 6-4, 1-6, 6-3
3. Alexey Minevskiy (LMU) vs. Guilherme Lima (MHCM) 0-6, 7-5, 4-1, unfinished
4. Carlos Oyaga (MHCM) def. Michael Koenen (LMU) 6-4, 6-2
5. Tom Goossens (LMU) def. Brad Bassinger (MHCM) 4-6, 6-3, 6-2
6. Stefan Hall (LMU) vs. Stevan Stankovic (MHCM) unfinished

Doubles competition
1. Philipp Hoffmann/Tom Goossens (LMU) def. Lucas Simm/Enrico Patriarca (MHCM) 8-2
2. Alexey Minevskiy/Marcelo Alvim (LMU) def. Guilherme Lima/Stevan Stankovic (MHCM) 8-3
3. Brad Bassinger/Carlos Oyaga (MHCM) def. Michael Koenen/Stefan Hall (LMU) 9-7

Match Notes
No. 5 Mars Hill 7-8
No. 4 Lincoln Memorial 12-5; Regional ranking #15
Order of finish: Doubles (1,2,3); Singles (4,1,5,2)

No. 3 Brevard 5, No. 6 Newberry 0

ROCK HILL, S.C. - The No. 3 seed Brevard men's tennis team swept the doubles flights against No. 6 seed Newberry en route to a 5-0 victory in a quarterfinal match of the Food Lions SAC Tournament on Wednesday at the Rock Hill Tennis Center.

South Atlantic Conference freshman of the year Sam MacNeil and Cole Alitzer made it 1-0 in favor of the Tornados with an 8-1 victory in the No. 2 doubles flight over Michael Saunders and Mohammed Chakir to begin the match.

Scott McCormick and Beau Wills doubled up David Sons and All-SAC first team member Vinicius Botelho 8-4 before Newberry made a bid to break up the shutout.

Brevard's Jarred Fisher and Shane Apps battled back from a 5-7 deficit in the third pairs battle against Newberry's Jeffrey Kiser and James Bethea to win four straight games and take a 9-7 decision.

In singles action, Wills bested Chakir 6-2, 6-1 before MacNeil beat Botelho 6-4, 6-1 in a battle of a pair of the league's top freshmen.

"It's important that we got out to a good start at the doubles, which made a difference in the match," said Brevard coach Nicole Bumgarner. "The guys went in confident after the doubles and the two freshmen got it done."

"We played Brevard early in the year and we were really anticipating a close match today, but we took those three doubles losses early and never could recover," said Newberry first year head coach Mark Gardiner. "Our kids are going to learn from the experience and with our depth that we expect to have next year, it's going to be a nice set up for the 2012 season. I couldn't be more pleased with the way we played this season. "

The Tornados will take on No. 2 seed Anderson Thursday at 9 a.m.

2011 Newberry Men's Tennis
No. 6 Newberry vs No. 3 Brevard (Apr 20, 2011)
No. 3 Brevard 5, No. 6 Newberry 0
Apr 20, 2011 at Rock Hill, S.C. (Rock Hill Tennis Center)

Singles competition
1. Scott McCormick (BCM) vs. Michael Saunders (NEWM) 6-2, 3-2, unfinished
2. Sam MacNeil (BCM) def. Vinicius Botelho (NEWM) 6-4, 6-1
3. Beau Wills (BCM) def. Mohammed Chakir (NEWM) 6-2, 6-1
4. Cole Alitzer (BCM) vs. Michael Woolard (NEWM) 6-0, 4-1, unfinished
5. Jarred Fisher (BCM) vs. David Sons (NEWM) 6-6, unfinished
6. Jeffery Kiser (NEWM) vs. Shane Apps (BCM) no result

Doubles competition
1. Scott McCormick/Beau Wills (BCM) def. Vinicius Botelho/David Sons (NEWM) 8-4
2. Sam MacNeil/Cole Alitzer (BCM) def. Michael Saunders/Mohammed Chakir (NEWM) 8-1
3. Jarred Fisher/Shane Apps (BCM) def. James Bethea/Jeffery Kiser (NEWM) 9-7

Match Notes
No. 6 Newberry 6-14
No. 3 Brevard 14-7; Regional ranking #19
Order of finish: Doubles (2,1,3); Singles (3,2)