College of Charleston
UMBC
Men?s Tennis Slips Past UMBC By 4-3 Margin
3/21/2015 3:56:00 AM | Men's Tennis
CHARLESTON, S.C. – College of Charleston men's tennis earned singles wins on courts three through six to overcome an early Maryland-Baltimore County lead and earn a 4-3 decision at Patriots Point Tennis Center on Friday evening.
“Our singles play today was an example of how dangerous we can be,” CofC Head Coach Jay Bruner said. “We have six spots that can find a way to win. In doubles, we were watching too much and need to be more engaged from the start. It was a good win as UMBC is having a great spring and is a tough team to beat.”
The match was previously scheduled for Thursday afternoon, but was postponed as a result of inclement weather.
UMBC (6-4) swept the Cougars (11-5, 1-0 CAA) in doubles competition to gain an early 1-0 advantage. The Retrievers' Jaan Kononov increased the team's lead to 2-0 with a win at No. 1 singles.
Junior Zack Lewis put the Cougars on the board by picking up a 6-3, 6-4 victory over the Retrievers' Eliott Loubatie for his eighth win at the No. 5 spot. The victory was the third straight for Lewis, who sits at 10-4 overall on the season in singles.
Junior Garrett Gordon tied the score at 2-2 with his 6-1, 6-3 win over Daniel Gray on court six. His straight-set victory put him at 4-4 on the year. Three of his wins have come at the No. 6 spot.
CAA Men's Tennis Player of the Week sophomore Vasily Kichigin and senior Charlie Ghriskey both collected their 11th win of the season on courts three and four, respectively, to clinch the match for the Cougars. Ghriskey's three-set victory over Alex Drean gave Charleston a 3-2 edge on the match. His 6-0 score in the first set marked the third straight singles set in which Ghriskey did not allow his opponent to win a single game, having earlier defeated Richmond's Canyon Teague 6-0, 6-0 on Mar. 11. The Mount Kisco, N.Y. native yielded a 6-4 decision in to Drean in the second set but rebounded for a 6-1 win in the third to take the match.
Moments after Ghriskey's win on court four, Kichigin clinched the match for the Cougars with a 7-5, 6-3 triumph over Melker Svard at the No. 3 spot. The win was the third straight for the St. Petersburg, Russia native who picked up his second conference Player of the Week accolade of the season earlier this week.
UMBC's Justin Carter needed three sets to defeat CofC's No. 2 player, senior Brice Allanic. The Colombes, France native won his first match, 6-4. Carter regrouped and came back to defeat Allanic in a tiebreak in the second set. Carter went on to earn a 10-5 win in the third, to narrow the margin of defeat for the Retrievers.
College of Charleston returns to action on Tuesday when the Cougars host Elon for their second conference match of the season. The 5-9 Phoenix will be looking for their first road win of the season. The two teams are familiar opponents, having both previously been members of the Southern Conference. CofC leads the serious 13-4. Senior Stefan Fortmann, who has compiled a 7-5 record at the top spot and is currently riding a three-match win streak going into Saturday afternoon's match against James Madison, leads the Phoenix in singles and doubles. He and his partner, senior Brian Kowalski are 6-4 at No. 1 doubles.
Tuesday's match begins at 3 p.m. at Patriots Point Tennis Center.
Singles:
1. Jaan Kononov (UMBC) def. Rodrigo Encinas (CofC ) 6-0, 6-4
2. Justin Carter (UMBC) def. Brice Allanic (CofC) 4-6, 7-6, 10-5
3. Vasily Kichigin (CofC) def. Melker Svard (UMBC) 7-5, 6-3
4. Charlie Ghriskey (CofC) def. Alex Drean (UMBC) 6-0, 4-6, 6-1
5. Zack Lewis (CofC) def. Eliott Loubatie (UMBC) 6-3, 6-4
6. Garrett Gordon (CofC) def. Daniel Gray (UMBC) 6-1, 6-3
Order of Finish: 1, 5, 6, 4, 3, 2
Doubles:
1. Daniel Gray/Alex Drean (UMBC) def. Franz Sydow/Brice Allanic (CofC) 8-5
2. Melker Svard/Jaan Kononov (UMBC) def. Charlie Ghriskey/Vasily Kichigin (CofC) 8-4
3. Justin Carter/Eliott Loubatie (UMBC) def. Josh Record/Rodrigo Encinas (CofC) 7-7
Players Mentioned
