College of Charleston
Georgia Southern
Men?s Tennis Claims First Back-to-Back Regular Season Championship in CofC History
4/15/2011 1:41:00 AM | Men's Tennis
"I'm excited for the seniors that they were able to repeat as regular season champs," head coach Jay Bruner said. "After the loss to Elon it was great to come back and compete the way we did. We're really in a rhythm now."
The Cougars (15-5, 9-1 SoCon) share the conference title with Elon, who defeated Appalachian State in Boone, N.C. It is the third regular season championship for CofC, who also shared the title in 2003 with East Tennessee State.
CofC swept the doubles matches for the seventh time this season. Sophomore Billy Kenny (Pawley's Island, S.C.) and junior Mickael Trintignac (Le Cannet, France) started the Cougars off with an 8-5 win at the No. 3 spot. Sophomore Stephen Hardy (Fairfax, Va.) and junior Tom Delme (Hamoir, Belgium) clinched the point with their sixth straight win at the No. 2 spot, an 8-4 win over Edio Castanhel and Marco Osorio.
Senior Lukas Koncilia (Tyrol, Austria) and sophomore Kyle Parker (Richmond, Va.) won a marathon match at the top spot over Melian Puigventos and Matthijs Verdam. The duo took a 5-2 lead before the Eagles began to rally. The match went to a tiebreak which the Cougars eventually won 8-7 (8-6) for their 12th win on the year.
In singles, both Delme and Hardy went into their matches with perfect conference records on the line. Hardy cruised to a 6-1 victory in the first set before stumbling in the second, yielding a 6-3 decision to Sebastian Felt. Undeterred, he raced to a 6-0 win in the third to cap an undefeated season with a 12-0 record at the No. 6 spot, including a 9-0 mark against conference opponents.
"For Hardy to go through the season undefeated in the conference in his first year at CofC is awesome," Bruner said. "He's really focused right now and playing great tennis."
Delme won his first set as the third-seed before his opponent Matthijs Verdam rebounded to claim the second and third sets. Delme finished the regular season with a 14-5 record, going 9-1 in the conference.
Senior Mickael Boyer (Meudon, France) clinched the match for the Cougars with a 6-4, 6-1 win at the No. 4 spot over Mark Paetz. CofC also picked up points at the second and fifth spots.
College of Charleston will be the No. 2 seed in the Southern Conference championship on Apr. 22-23. Elon will be the top seed since the Phoenix handed the Cougars their only loss of the season.
"We still feel like we've got three matches left to play," Bruner said. "As excited as we are to win the regular season championship, we aren't done."
Doubles:
1. Lukas Koncillia/Kyle Parker (CofC) def. J. Melian Puigventos/Mattijs Verdam (GSU) 8-7 (8-6)
2. Tom Delme/Stephen Hardy (CofC) def. Edio Castanhel/Marco Osorio (GSU) 8-4
3. Billy Kenny/Mickael Trintignac (CofC) def. Derrick Davison/Alain Garrido (GSU) 8-5
Singles:
1. J. Melian Puigventos/Mattijs Verdam (GSU) def. Lukas Koncilia (CofC) 6-0, 6-3
2. Mickael Trintignac (CofC) def. Alain Garrido (GSU) 7-5, 6-3
3. Matthijs Verdam (GSU) def. Tom Delme (CofC) 3-6, 6-4, 6-3
4. Mickael Boyer (CofC) def. Mark Paetz (GSU) 6-4, 6-1
5. Kyle Parker (CofC) def. Edio Castanhel (GSU) 6-3, 7-5
6. Stephen Hardy (CofC) def. Sebastian Felt (GSU) 6-1, 3-6, 6-0
Players Mentioned
