Anderson, Wingate Advance To Food Lion SAC Men’s Tennis Tournament Championship

ROCK HILL, S.C. - First year South Atlantic Conference member Anderson used a strong performance in doubles action en route to a 5-2 victory over No. 3 seed Brevard in the semifinals of the Food Lion SAC Men's Tennis Tournament on Thursday at the Rock Hill Tennis Center.

Anderson's Daniel Gonzalez used a 6-1, 7-5 triumph over Cole Alitzer to send the Trojans to their first SAC championship match in school history.

The Trojans came out strong in doubles competition as Gonzalez and Atema defeated Scott McCormick and Beau Wills 9-7. The Anderson pair took their tiebreaker over the Tornado duo by a score of 7-4.

Another hard fought match was played at the No. 2 pairs flight where Deni Mehagic and Ilya Zakharov were able to grind out a 9-7 win over Brevard's Sam MacNeil and Alitzer. The Trojans shut out the Tornado pair in the tiebreaker set with a 7-0 tally.

Completing the sweep at doubles for Anderson were Jerome Branker and Trey Halbauer who doubled up Jarred Fisher and Shane Apps 8-4.

Not wanting to go away quietly, Brevard put a scare into the Trojans during singles action. At the No. 1 flight, McCormick defeated Atema 6-1, 6-2 in straight sets to trim the Anderson lead to one.

Anderson's Deni Mehagic teamed with Ilya Zakharov to pick up a victory at No. 2 doubles.

With the help of Wills, the Tornados crept even closer. The Brevard competitor scored a 6-0, 6-3 triumph over Zakharov to pull the Tornados to within one.

The Tornados could get no closer however, as Halbauer took a 6-1, 7-5 decision over Fisher to put the Tornados one point away from the SAC championship match.

Gonzalez then put away Alitzer to ensure the Trojans another match on Friday.

The No. 2 seeded Trojans will face off against No. 1 seed Wingate for the SAC Tournament championship on Friday. The match is set to begin at 9 a.m.

No. 2 Anderson 5, No. 3 Brevard 2

Singles competition
1. Scott McCormick (BCM) def. Stan Atema (AUM) 6-1, 6-2
2. Deni Mehagic (AUM) vs. Sam MacNeil (BCM) 4-6, 5-4, unfinished
3. Beau Wills (BCM) def. Ilya Zakharov (AUM) 6-0, 6-3
4. Daniel Gonzalez (AUM) def. Cole Alitzer (BCM) 6-1, 7-5
5. Trey Halbauer (AUM) def. Jarred Fisher (BCM) 6-0, 7-5
6. Loic Ambrose (AUM) vs. Shane Apps (BCM) 4-1, unfinished

Doubles competition
1. Stan Atema/Daniel Gonzalez (AUM) def. Scott McCormick/Beau Wills (BCM) 9-7 (7-4)
2. Deni Mehagic/Ilya Zakharov (AUM) def. Sam MacNeil/Cole Alitzer (BCM) 9-7 (7-0)
3. Jerome Branker/Trey Halbauer (AUM) def. Jarred Fisher/Shane Apps (BCM) 8-4
Match Notes:
No. 3 Brevard 14-8
No. 2 Anderson 13-8
Order of finish: Doubles (3,1,2); Singles (,1,3,5,4)

Wingate 5, Lincoln Memorial 3

ROCK HILL, S.C. -- The No. 1 seeded Wingate Bulldogs took a tight, 5-3 win over the No. 4 seeded Lincoln Memorial Railsplitters as they advance to the Food Lion South Atlantic Conference men's tennis tournament championship match.

Fernando Montemurro took the fifth singles flight over Lincoln Memorial's Tom Gossens after winning a highly contested second set tie breaker, 8-6. Montemurro won the first set for Wingate 7-5 before taking the second, 7-6.

Wingate's Flavio Rathsam returns a shot against LMU's Alexey Minevskiy during Thursday's semifinal match. Photo by Tim Hartis.

Wingate came out of the doubles round with a pair of wins when Matthew Lichtenstein and Braeden Patchell defeated Lincoln Memorial's Alexey Minevskiy and Marcelo Alvim 9-7. Montemurro and Greg Machado took the third doubles pairing in commanding fashion, 8-3, over the Railsplitter's Michael Koenen and Stefan Hall. The Railsplitter's lone win in doubles competition came with Phillip Hoffman and Gossens taking an 8-2 win over Andrew Owen and Flavio Rathsam.

Wingate then took a 3-1 lead in the contest after the No. 3 singles pairing of Minevsky vs. Rathsam went to Rathsam with a 6-3 win in set one and 6-2 in set two.

The Bulldogs came within one point of clinching a championship birth when the fourth singles flight went to Wingate as well with Patchell taking down Koenen, 6-3 and 6-2.

Lincoln Memorial fought its way back into the ballgame after taking both the first and second singles pairings. Hoffman took down Wingate's Lichtenstein in three sets, winning the first 6-2, dropping the second 6-4 and winning the third, 6-2. In the second flight Alvim grabbed the win over Andrew Owen with a 7-5 win in set one and a 6-4 win in set two.

With the team scores at 4-3 it was the fifth flight victory of Montemurro that sealed the deal for the Bulldogs.

Wingate will now face off against Anderson for the SAC tournament championship Friday at 9 a.m.

#39 Wingate 5, Lincoln Memorial 3

Singles competition
1. Philipp Hoffmann (LMU) def. Matthew Lichtenstein (WIN) 6-2, 4-6, 6-1
2. Marcelo Alvim (LMU) def. Andrew Owen (WIN) 7-5, 6-4
3. Flavio Rathsam (WIN) def. Alexey Minevskiy (LMU) 6-3, 6-2
4. Braeden Patchell (WIN) def. Michael Koenen (LMU) 6-3, 6-2
5. Fernando Montemurro (WIN) def. Tom Goossens (LMU) 7-5, 7-6 (8-6)
6. Ryan Forbes (WIN) vs. Stefan Hall (LMU) 6-1, unfinished

Doubles competition
1. Philipp Hoffmann/Tom Goossens (LMU) def. Andrew Owen/Flavio Rathsam (WIN) 8-2
2. Matthew Lichtenstein/Braeden Patchell (WIN) def. Alexey Minevskiy/Marcelo Alvim (LMU) 9-7
3. Fernando Montemurro/Greg Machado (WIN) def. Michael Koenen/Stefan Hall (LMU) 8-3

Match Notes
Lincoln Memorial 13-6
Wingate 17-3; National ranking #39; Regional ranking #11
Order of finish: Doubles (1,3,2); Singles (,3,4,1,2,5)