JACKSONVILLE, Ala. -- The Tennessee Tech tennis team lost its Ohio
Valley Conference road match at Jacksonville State Wednesday
afternoon, falling to the Gamecocks, 4-3. It was Tech's first
regular season conference loss since late in the 2011 season,
snapping a 17-match OVC winning streak by the Golden Eagles.
Tech (2-9/1-1 OVC) stays on the road this weekend, playing OVC
matches at Eastern Illinois Saturday at 1 p.m., followed by a visit
to SIU Edweardsville Sunday at 10 a.m.
The win for JSU snapped a four match-losing skid to the Golden
Eagles and was the Gamecocks' first win since 2009. Jax State
improved to 7-6 overall and 2-1 in OVC play.
With the match tied at 3-3, the outcome was decided on the No. 3
singles court where JSU freshman Dylan Gee edged Tech senior Vasily
Eremeev. After coming away with a tough, 7-6 win in the opening
set, Gee put the match into the win column with a 6-2 win in the
second set for the 4-3 match final score.
The Golden Eagles had started things by capturing the doubles
point, getting wins at No. 1 and No. 2, while the No. 3 contest
went unfinished. At No. 1, Oleksiy Arovin
and Alberto
Esteban downed the JSU pairing of Jaryd
Reese and Jefferson Wendler-Filho, 8-4.
In the No. 2 spot, Eremeev and Artem Tarasov
grabbed an 8-3 win over Felipe
Diaz and Pedro Wagner 8-3 to close
out doubles.
The Gamecocks quickly regrouped for singles and got off to a fast
start as Mathias Chaim downed Gagan Jain at No. 5
by a 6-1, 6-0 count to tie the match at 1-1. The home team took a
2-1 lead after Diaz ousted Gonzalo Munoz in
straight sets, 6-2, 6-2.
In the No. 1 position, Arovin tied things at 2-2 with a 6-2, 6-3,
straight set win over Wagner. That lifted Arovin's singles record
to 9-2 in dual matches.
Wendler-Filho turned back Alvaro Cintas at
No. 4 in a hard fought match, giving the Gamecocks a 3-2 lead.
Wendler-Filho won the opening set 6-4, but Cintas took him to a
tiebreaker in the second set before Wendler-Filho out-lasted his
opposition in the tiebreaker, 7-6 (7-4).
Esteban claimed a 6-3, 7-6 win against JSU's Jaryd
Reese at No. 3, knotting the score at 3-3 and setting
the stage for the deciding point at No. 3.
Jacksonville
State 4, Tennessee Tech 3
3/19/2014 at Jacksonville, Ala.
| Singles competition |
| 1. AROVIN, Oleksiy (TTU) def. WAGNER, Pedro (JSU) 6-2, 6-3 |
| 2. ESTEBAN, Alberto (TTU) def. REESE, Jaryd (JSU) 6-3, 7-6 |
| 3. GEE, Dylan (JSU) def. EREMEEV, Vasily (TTU) 7-6 (8-6), 6-2 |
| 4. WENDLER-FILHO, Jeff (JSU) def. CINTAS, Alvaro (TTU) 6-4, 7-6 (7-4) |
| 5. CHAIM, Mathias (JSU) def. JAIN, Gagan (TTU) 6-1, 6-0 |
| 6. DIAZ, Felipe (JSU) def. MUNOZ, Gonzalo (TTU) 6-2, 6-2 |
| Doubles competition |
| 1. AROVIN, Oleksiy/ESTEBAN, Alberto (TTU) def. REESE, Jaryd/WENDLER-FILHO, Jeff (JSU) 8-4 |
| 2. EREMEEV, Vasily/TARASOV, Artem (TTU) def. DIAZ, Felipe/WAGNER, Pedro (JSU) 8-3 |
| 3. CHAIM, Mathias/GEE, Dylan (JSU) vs. JAIN, Gagan/CINTAS, Alvaro (TTU) unfinished |
