College of Charleston
Florida A&M
Cougars Rise to 2-1 with 5-2 Win Over Florida A&M
2/6/2016 10:53:00 PM | Men's Tennis
TALLAHASSEE, FLA. – The College of Charleston men's tennis team rose to 2-1 on the season Saturday, picking up the 5-2 win on the road over the Florida A&M Rattlers (1-7).
Doubles play got off to a promising start, with the CofC combination of Rodrigo Encinas and Juan Estevarena shutting out Walner Espinoza and Carlos Agustin Waitman 6-0 in the first flight.
Things took a turn in flight two, where Charlie Ghriskey and Zack Lewis fell 6-4 to Courage Okungbowa and Illya Skoromnyy, setting up a pivotal third flight match between CofC's Vasily Kichigin and Josh Record and the Rattlers' Karlyn Small and Jalen Evans. That nail-biter of a match went back and forth, before the Cougars narrowly escaped 7-6(7) to pick up the doubles point.
As action shifted to singles play, the College went on to either score convincing wins or give up very tight losses. Estevarena had the most impressive match, shutting out Okungbowa 6-0, 6-0 in the first flight. Lewis, Encinas and Ryan Khan all picked up victories as well, combining to take 36 of a total 45 sets in the third, fifth and sixth flights.
The only CofC blemishes came in the second and fifth sets, where Kichigin fell in a close 7-5, 7-5 match to Small and Ghriskey dropped an even closer match to Espinoza by a score of 6-7, 7-6, 10-7.
The Cougars remain in Florida for the night, but will make the lengthy excursion from Tallahassee to Daytona Beach, where they will face Bethune Cookman (2-2) on Sunday at 10 a.m.
CofC 5, Florida A&M 2
SINGLES
Juan Estevarena def. Courage Okungbowa – 6-0, 6-0
Karlyn Small def. Vasily Kichigin – 7-5, 7-5
Zack Lewis def. Carlos Agustin Waitman – 6-1, 6-3
Walner Espinoza def. Charlie Ghriskey – 6-7, 7-6, 10-7
Rodrigo Encinas def. Hema Hasona – 6-2, 6-1
Ryan Khan def. Illya Skoromnyy – 6-1, 6-1
DOUBLES
Encinas/Estevarena def. Espinoza/Waitman – 6-0
Okungbowa/Skoromnyy def. Ghriskey/Lewis – 6-4
Kichigin/Record def. Small/Evans – 7-6(7)
Players Mentioned
