ELON, N.C.-- Four players wrap up the Elon Fall Invitational this weekend after each grabbing a win. Tech competed with 13 other schools in singles and doubles play.
Justin Kirstein, who competed in the Flight A2 singles draw showed his determination once again after coming back to capture the first round on Friday. Kirstein, who is well known for his ¨fight¨on the court, was down 5-2 in the third-set against Tristan Stayte from Liberty and battled back to take the match with a 6-2, 4-6, 7-5 victory. Kirstein was defeated in the following round, 5-7, 3-6.
Third-seed and top player for Tennessee Tech, Josh Girling captured a first round win Friday afternoon over Elon´s Eric Turner, 6-1, 7-6. He fell the following round 3-6, 3-6 to Liberty. Girling, who has had much success on the court this fall, now holds a 10-3 record.
James Crawford competed in Flight C singles and fell to Radford first round, 3-6, 3-6, but came back strong in the second round, only dropping one game against Chris Hunter from WSSU.
In the B1 Flight, Junior Alex Chen was defeated by Wesley Barrett from Elon 7-5, 6-2. He had a hard-fought battle in consolations but fell short in the third-set tiebreaker against Georgia Southern, 6-4, 2-6, 8-10.
The men also had success in their doubles play, which started Friday at 5:00 p.m. Girling and Crawford teamed up in the A2 doubles flight and took a first round win over Presbyterian, 9-7. The next round Tech faced Elon for a tight match ending in an 8-6 victory for Elon. This is the second campaign for the English duo this fall, who so far have proven to be a succesful pair. The two captured the first two rounds of the the Indiana Invitational last month.
Chen and Kirstein had similar results in the B1 doubles flight. The two defeated players from Liberty 9-7 in the first round Friday night and then had an 4-8 loss in the second round. The pair was also teamed in the UNCG Invitational where they went 2-1.
Next up for the Golden Eagles tennis team is the USTA Intercollegiate Tennis Association Regional Championship held October 21-25.