April 9, 2011

Men's Tennis Clinches A-Sun Berth With Win Over Kennesaw

MACON, Ga. – Mercer University's men's tennis team locked down the No. 5 seed for next week's Atlantic Sun Conference championship tournament thanks to its 4-3 win over I-75 rival Kennesaw State University. With the win, the Bears improved to 9-11 overall and finished 5-5 in A-Sun matches.

The A-Sun will release the official tournament bracket after completion of all regular season matches this weekend.

A five seed is the third-best ranking ever achieved by an MU team since the league went to its current tournament format in 1994. Mercer was been a No. 3 seed in 2006 and a No. 4 seed in 1996 previously.

"I am extremely proud of how hard our team went after it today," MU head coach Warren Woolfolk said. "Both teams needed this win to be guaranteed a tournament spot, so it was a very intense competition out there. I really liked how we stayed focused on what we wanted to do and battled in every match, regardless of the score.

"This was a very important win for our program. Now we have to begin to mentally prepare for the A-Sun tournament next week."

The tone for the day was set from the outset in a very spirited double competition. At No. 2 doubles, Pierre Tafelski and David Barton blitzed the Owls' Gokalp Ozdemir and Giann Kubin, 8-2. KSU won No. 1 doubles, 8-6, leaving the No. 3 doubles match to decide the day's first team point.

MU's Fernando Armendaris and Guilherme Frias were up a break early in the match, but the Owls' duo of Ryan Spencer and Michael Langel battled back to take a 7-6 lead and were on the brink of victory. With Frias serving, Mercer knotted matters at 7-7 and then broke the Owls to go up 8-7.

Armendaris then served for the match for the Bears and quickly was up 40-0. KSU would win the next two points. With the score 40-30, Mercer's Ecuadorian import unleashed an ace to win the match and secure the team doubles point in the Mercer column.

Up 1-0 on the scoreboard, an inspired Bears' team won the first three singles matches off the courts at the Nos. 6, 1 and 2 positions to clinch the team win and A-Sun bid.

At No. 6, Barton needed just 38 minutes to dispatch of KSU's Tyler Mills, 6-1, 6-1. Barton, a junior, improved to 14-4 overall and finished the A-Sun season with a record of 8-1 in singles play.

The Bears also received straight-set wins from Tafelski at No. 1 and Peter Tauchner at No. 2. Tafelski had little trouble with KSU's Simon Janik, 6-1, 6-2, and Tauchner's 6-4, 6-3 win over Kubin sealed the deal for Mercer by making the team score 4-0 at that juncture.

KSU won the remaining three matches on the courts, all of which went three sets.

Mercer University 4, Kennesaw State 3
Apr 09, 2011 at Macon, Ga.

Singles competition

1. Pierre Tafelski (MERM) def. Simon Janik (KSUMTEN) 6-1, 6-2

2. Peter Tauchner (MERM) def. Gianni Kubin (KSUMTEN) 6-4, 6-3

3. Gokalp Ozdemir (KSUMTEN) def. Fernando Armendaris (MERM) 3-6, 6-1, 10-4

4. Elliot Kahler (KSUMTEN) def. Evandro Rosindo (MERM) 4-6, 6-2, 10-5

5. Ryan Spencer (KSUMTEN) def. Guilherme Frias (MERM) 2-6, 6-4, 10-0

6. David Barton (MERM) def. Tyler Mills (KSUMTEN) 6-1, 6-1

Doubles competition

1. Simon Janik/Elliot Kahler (KSUMTEN) def. Peter Tauchner/Evandro Rosindo (MERM) 8-6

2. Pierre Tafelski/David Barton (MERM) def. Gokalp Ozdemir/Gianni Kubin (KSUMTEN) 8-2