Bulldogs Upset in First Round of Big South Tennis Championship, Fall to Liberty 4-1
April 17, 2009 | Men's Tennis
The fourth-seeded Gardner-Webb men's tennis team was upset by fifth-seeded Liberty, 4-1 in the first round of the 2009 Big South Men's Tennis Championship on Thursday afternoon, April 16 at Winthrop's Memorial Courts.
Gardner-Webb fell behind early by dropping the crucial doubles point, losing at the No. 1 and 3 doubles positions to the Flames. Liberty's first win came at three, with an 8-1 decision over the GWU duo of Ryan Bernthal and Jamie Lawlor.
At one, GWU's pairing of Evgeny Slesarev and Rafael Altmayer was broken early and played most of the match from behind. However, they did get a break late in the match to pull within a game (6-5). Despite the efforts, the Flames broke soon after and went on to take the match 8-5, giving Liberty the doubles point.
Being down 1-0, the Bulldogs had their work cut out for them in singles competition. Slesarev got the ‘Dogs off on the right foot, cruising to a 6-2, 6-1 win at the #1 singles slot to tie the match at 1-1.
However, Liberty responded with wins at both the No. 4 and No. 6 positions to push its lead to 3-1 with three matches remaining. Within those three matches, GWU led at both the No. 2 and No. 5 positions and Altmayer had a nail biter going at the three slot.
In the end, Liberty was able to clinch the match behind a 7-6 (7-5), 6-1 win at the third position, winning 4-1 to advance to the semifinal round. Since the Flames clinched the fourth point, Andrew Veeder and Lawlor went unfinished although both were leading their matches in the third set.
The Bulldogs end their season at 9-17, finishing 3-4 in conference action.
BOX
Doubles
No. 1 – Cypert/Lemmi (LU) def. Slesarev/Altmayer (GW), 8-5
No. 2 – Simpson/Machado (LU) led Veeder/Quijano (GW) 8-7, unfinished
No. 3 – Reyes/Steyn (LU) def. Bernthal/Lawlor (GW), 8-1
Singles
No. 1 – Evgeny Slesarev (GW) def. Clay Cypert (LU), 6-2, 6-1
No. 2 – Andrew Veeder (GW) led Louis Steyn (LU), 3-6, 6-3, 5-4, unfinished
No. 3 – Giancarlo Lemmi (LU) def. Rafael Altmayer (GW), 7-6 (5), 6-1
No. 4 – Chad Simpson (LU) def. Carlos Quijano (GW), 6-3, 6-1
No. 5 – Jamie Lawlor (GW) led Otavio Costa (LU), 6-2, 3-6, 4-1, unfinished
No. 6 – Juan Reyes (LU) def. Ryan Bernthal (GW), 6-4, 6-2
