Men’s Tennis Opens Season with 6-1 Win Over NC Central

Saturday, February 4

Durham, NC - Dr. James W. Younge Tennis Courts

3:00 PM

College of Charleston

North Carolina Central

Photo by: CofCSports.com

Men’s Tennis Opens Season with 6-1 Win Over NC Central

2/4/2017 10:31:00 PM | Men's Tennis

By: Chris Chandler, Assistant Director of Athletics Communications

DURHAM, N.C. - The College of Charleston men's tennis team kicked off it's season with a victory Saturday night, prevailing over the N.C. Central Eagles 6-1.

Despite the lopsided final score, it was a tense matchup featuring a whopping six different tiebreaks throughout the day. The Cougars impressed by coming through in the clutch, winning every one of them.

Jake and Luke Kusmider set the tone for the Cougars in doubles play by picking up the 6-4 win in the third flight. Benedikt Henning and Easton Thomas decided the doubles point with a 7-5 win in the second flight. Juan Estevarena and Rodrigo Encinas grabbed the hard-fought first flight win over Gabriel Cucalon and Maksym Konovalov with the 7-6(7) tiebreak victory.

Ryan Khan was the first Cougar finished in singles play, grabbing the 7-5, 6-0 win in flight five. Vasily Kichigin followed that up with a 7-5, 6-4 win in the third flight to put the Eagles on the brink of defeat as CofC took the 3-0 lead.

After NCCU got a point back in the third flight, Benedikt Henning sealed the day for the Cougars, winning back-to-back tiebreaks to get past Theo Kontopoulos 7-6(4), 7-6(7).

Juan Estevarena and freshman Fernando Lascurian both pulled off wins in three sets with the match decided. Estevarena went up 7-6(4) over Gabriel Cucalon in the top flight before Cucalon tied things up with a 6-3 win in the second set. Estevarena responded 6-3 in the third set to take the match and put CofC up 5-1. Lascurian meanwhile came from behind a 6-4 loss in the first set to Brooks Campbell to win the match with a 7-6(3) win in the second set and an 11-9 win in the super tiebreak.

The Cougars remain on the road and will be right back at it tomorrow for back-to-back matches against Queens at 9:30 a.m. and NC A&T at 4 p.m.

CofC 6, NCCU 1

SINGLES
Juan Estevarena (CofC) def. Gabriel Cucalon (NCCU) - 7-6(4), 3-6, 6-3
Benedikt Henning (CofC) def. Theo Kontopoulos (NCCU) - 7-6(4), 7-6(7)
Vasily Kichigin (CofC) def. Maksym Konovalov (NCCU) - 7-5, 6-4
Davide Callegari (NCCU) def. Rodrigo Encinas (CofC) - 6-4, 6-3
Ryan Khan (CofC) def. Sebastian Bromley (NCCU) - 7-5, 6-0
Fernando Lascurian (CofC) def. Brooks Campbell (NCCU) - 4-6, 7-6(3), 11-9
Order of Finish: 5, 3, 4, 2, 1, 6

DOUBLES
Estevarena/Encinas (CofC) def. Cucalon/Konovalov (NCCU) - 7-6(7)
Henning/Thomas (CofC) def. Juez Torres/Callegari (NCCU) - 7-5
Kusmider/Kusmider (CofC) def. Kontopoulos/Campbell (NCCU) - 6-4
Order of Finish: 3, 2, 1