April 5, 2009

Final Stats

NASHVILLE, Tenn. - The Kennesaw State men's tennis team split a pair of Atlantic Sun Conference matches in Nashville this weekend, earning its second conference win with a 4-3 defeat of Lipscomb on Friday before falling 6-1 to Belmont on Saturday.

The weekend split moved the Owls overall record to 6-11, and their conference mark to 2-6. Lipscomb fell to 5-9 and 0-6 with the loss, while Belmont improved to 12-6 and 6-3 after earning their fifth-straight win.

The weekend started out looking bleak for the Owls after they lost all three doubles matches to cede the early lead to the Bisons on Friday. The team fell 8-3 at both No. 1 and No. 3 and 8-4 at No. 2, losing the doubles portion for the fifth time in its last six matches.

Regrouping during the break before singles, the Owls pulled it together to come back for the one-point win and their second defeat of a conference opponent.

Lawrence Washington snapped a five-match losing streak with a straight-set 6-4, 7-5 win over Joe McArdle at No. 1 and Tyler Mills bested Chad Pierron 6-2, 7-5 at No. 2 to earn two of the Owls four points.

Simon Janik won his second-straight with a 6-2, 6-2 win over Bruno Malibeu at No. 4, while Ryan Bouttell earned the Owls final point with a 6-4, 6-3 victory over Mario Hernandez at No. 5.

"This was a tale of two matches," said Kennesaw State Director of Tennis Operations and Assistant Coach T.J. Greggs on the Lipscomb win. "We played one of the worst matches all year in doubles, followed by one of the best in singles. The men responded superbly to adversity and raised the bar immediately by sweeping five of the first sets in singles to set the tone for the rest of the match."

The Owls doubles woes continued against Belmont on Saturday morning after the Bruins swept the three matches to grab the 1-0 advantage. The Black and Gold couldn't manage to climb out of a hole for the second-straight day, losing five of six singles matches to the red-hot Bruins.

Bouttell continued to play at an elevated level, earning the Owls lone singles win with a 6-4, 6-3 defeat of Rafael Motos after moving up to the No. 4 spot. The win was Bouttell's ninth in his last ten finished matches and moved his record to a team-leading 10-3 on the season.

Denis Sergeychik made the Owls second-best run at a victory, taking the first set before letting Felipe Lima come back for the 3-6, 6-3, 10-6 win at No. 6.

"Belmont is by far the most improved team in our conference and ran out a solid lineup," added Greggs. "All the credit goes to them today for coming out and playing an excellent match. Ryan and Denis both played great matches today, and it was a positive experience for the team, even in defeat."

The Owls will next return to the KSU Tennis Complex on Tuesday April 7th for the inaugural season's last home match. They will face in-state rival Mercer at 12 p.m. before wrapping up their season on the road on April 11th against North Carolina Central in Durham, N.C.

Complete Results: http://www.collegetennisonline.com/KennesawStateUniversity-M-Tennis/Home.aspx