College of Charleston battles UNC Greensboro for first place in the SoCon
3/10/2010 4:00:00 PM | Men's Tennis
CHARLESTON, S.C. – Riding a four-match winning streak, the College of Charleston (6-2, 2-0) men's tennis team returns to Southern Conference action when they face UNC Greensboro (8-2, 2-0) in an early season battle for first place. Slated for 1 p.m., the match will take place at Patriots Point in Mt. Pleasant, S.C. on Thursday, March 11.
Team Capsules
College of Charleston Cougars (6-2, 2-0)
The Cougars enter the key SoCon match against the Spartans having won five of their last six contests, including the last four in a row.
Since a 5-2 loss at No. 64 Clemson on February 21, the College of Charleston has been one of the hottest teams in the Southern Conference, opening the league season 2-0 with victories at Chattanooga (6-1) and Samford (5-2) and posting victories over Boston College (5-2) and East Carolina (4-3) of the Atlantic Coast Conference and Conference-USA, respectively. Highlighting that stretch, CofC snapped Samford's six-match winning streak and defeated an East Carolina team that was 10-2 last match.
In the match against the Pirates, the College of Charleston took the early lead by earning the doubles point with victories in two of the three matches. That decision was capped off with a tie-breaker at the No. 1 spot as junior Lukas Koncilia (Tyrol, Austria) and sophomore Tom Delme (Hamoir, Belgium) battled to a 10-8 victory.
ECU rebounded to take a 3-1 lead behind victories at the fourth, fifth and sixth spots before Delme broke that string with a 6-3, 6-2 victory at the No. 3 spot to make it 3-2 sophomore Mickael Trintignac (Le Cannet, France) then tied the match at 3-3 with his 6-0, 6-2 decision at No. 2.
That, once again, left Koncilia with an opportunity for a deciding victory, this time for the match with his competition at the No. 1 spot. Following a 6-3 win in the first set, he then posted a commanding 6-1 victory in the second set to clinch a 4-3 win for the Cougars.
Individually, Trintignac has won his last four singles matches from the No. 2 spot and four consecutive doubles competitions from the No. 3 spot. He is 6-4 on the season in singles while Delme leads the team with a 7-3 record, 6-2 in dual competition. Koncilia, facing the opponent's top performer at the No. 1 spot, is 5-5 overall with a 5-3 mark in dual matches.
The pairing of Delme and Koncilia are 6-2 in doubles play this season while Koncilia and Trintignac each have 7-4 records in their overall doubles competition.
CofC Probable Lineup
Singles
1. Lukas Koncilia
2. Mickael Trintignac
3. Tom Delme
4. Mickael Boyer
5. John Harden
6. Chris Toussaint
Doubles
1. Tom Delme/Lukas Koncilia
2. Billy Kenny/Steven Myers
3. Mickael Trintignac/Mickael Boyer
UNC Greensboro Spartans (8-2, 2-0)
The Spartans have the most wins of any Southern Conference team with an 8-2 overall record and find themselves tied for first place with a 2-0 record following their 5-2 victory over The Citadel on Tuesday, March 9.
UNCG opened the season 2-0 and won six of their first seven matches with the one loss coming at Atlantic Coast Conference foe Maryland by a 5-2 score on February 12. Following that loss, they defeated Navy, UNC Asheville, Charlotte and Longwood before dropping a 6-1 decision at Clemson on March 2 and have posted 5-2 victories against Chattanooga and The Citadel.
Orcun Seyrek, who won his eighth straight singles competition in the match against the Bulldogs, is tied for the team lead with an 8-1 record. Teammate Timion Meijs matched that performance as he moved to 8-1 with his 6-3, 6-2 victory in that same match.
UNCG Probable Lineup
Singles
1. Orcun Seyrek
2. Arsel Kumdereli
3. Jacob Wright
4. Yaroslav Litus
5. Timion Meijs
6. William John
Doubles
1. Orcun Seyrek/Arsel Kumdereli
2. William John/Kyle Eddins
3. Yarolsav Litus/Jacob Wright
Series History
Since 2004, the College of Charleston owns a 5-1 record over UNC Greensboro, including five straight wins from March 13, 2004 through March 16, 2008. The Spartans won last year's meeting by a 6-1 score on March 21, 2009 in Greensboro, N.C.
Series Results
Date Winner Score
3/21/09 UNC Greensboro 6-1
3/16/08 Coll. of Charleston 4-3
3/18/07 Coll. of Charleston 7-0
3/4/06 Coll. of Charleston 7-0
4/13/05 Coll. of Charleston 5-2
3/13/04 Coll. of Charleston 6-1
Players Mentioned
