CHARLESTON, S.C. – For the second time this year, College of Charleston men's tennis battled a team for more than five hours on its home turf, falling just short in its match against CAA foe Elon on Tuesday at Patriots Point. The Phoenix earned a 4-3 decision in a match that went down to the wire.
“We had a tough start and didn't get into the match until it was halfway over,” CofC Head Coach Jay Bruner said. “We had some good toughness and battled into the match to get some chances. We have work to do on the small things.”
The doubles competition began in the Cougars' (11-6, 1-1 CAA) favor as No. 3 seed Josh Record and Rodrigo Encinas shut out Josh Luck and Chris Humphreys, 8-0. The Phoenix (7-9, 2-0 CAA) rebounded with an 8-3 win at the No. 1 spot to bring the decision down to court two, where sophomore Vasily Kichigin and senior Charlie Ghriskey were battling it out against Jordan Kaufman and Robert Lindgren. The duo, which is 6-2 on the year as a team, forced the Phoenix to go the distance in a tiebreak, 8-7(5), to earn the doubles point.
Elon carried that momentum into singles where it picked up a second point with a win on court one. Ghriskey put CofC on the board with his 12th win of the year, a 6-2, 6-3 victory over Lindgren at the No. 3 position. A win at the No. 4 spot gave Elon a 3-1 lead before juniors Zack Lewis and Garrett Gordon earned three-set wins at the No. 5 and No. 6 positions, respectively, to tie up the match. Both players bounced back from first-set losses to claim the next two sets 6-2, 6-2.
The match came down to senior Brice Allanic and Kaufman on court two, where the pair had split the first two sets. Allanic had forced Kaufman to a tiebreak in the first set, dropping a 7-6(5) decision before coming back to win the second set 7-5. Kaufman picked up a 6-3 win in the third set to give the Phoenix their second straight CAA win.
Tuesday's match concluded a four-match homestand that kept the Cougars at home for the past two weeks. Charleston will hit the road this weekend for a pair of non-conference matches in Charlotte against UNC Charlotte and East Carolina.
Singles:
1. Stefan Fortmann (Elon) def. Rodrigo Encinas (CofC) 6-2, 6-1
2. Jordan Kaufman (Elon) def. Brice Allanic (CofC) 7-6(5), 5-7, 6-3
3. Charlie Ghriskey (CofC) def. Robert Lindgren (Elon) 6-2, 6-3
4. Brian Kowalski (Elon) def. Vasily Kichigin (CofC) 7-5, 6-4
5. Zack Lewis (CofC) def. Josh Luck (Elon) 4-6, 6-2, 6-2
6. Garrett Gordon (CofC) def. Chris Humphreys (Elon) 1-6, 6-2, 6-2
Order of Finish: 1,3, 4, 6, 5, 2
Doubles:
1. Stefan Fortmann/Brian Kowalski (Elon) def. Brice Allanic/Alon Faiman (CofC) 8-3
2. Jordan Kaufman/Robert Lindgren (Elon) def. Vasily Kichigin/Charlie Ghriskey (CofC) 8-7(4)
3. Josh Record/Rodrigo Encincas (CofC) def. Josh Luck/Chris Humphreys (Elon) 8-0
Order of Finish: 3, 1, 2
