March 14, 2009

Final Stats

MACON, Ga. - For the second straight match, a USC Upstate men's tennis player reached 40 career wins, as senior Leandro Osorio won a super-set tiebreaker to reach the milestone and close out a 7-0 win, the team's 10th straight, over Atlantic Sun Conference foe Mercer at the LeRoy Peddy Tennis Center on Saturday afternoon.

Upstate's 10 straight wins is tied for the third-best winning streak in school history, tying a mark set by the 1991 team, which finished fifth at the NCAA Division II Championships. The school-record is 18 straight matches, set by the 2003 Peach Belt regular-season champions, coached by current assistant coach Tami Matheny and assisted by current head coach Alessandro De Marzo. De Marzo also coached the 2007 Spartans to 15 straight wins.

The Spartans (12-2 overall, 3-0 A-Sun) swept doubles play from the Bears (5-6 overall, 0-2 A-Sun) to start the match, as juniors Renzo Airaldi and Javier Tori posted an 8-2 win over Fernando Armendaris and Dave Barton. At No. 3, Osorio and freshman Ramiro Blanco posted an 8-4 win over Matthew Poleon and Justin Wimpee and the Spartans wrapped up doubles play with an 8-6 win at No. 2 from junior Jack Roux and freshman Edgar Rodriguez over Victor Dias and Mark Worsham.

In singles play, Airaldi started the Spartans off with a 6-3, 6-0 win over Wimpee at No. 1. Tori followed with a 6-2, 6-2 win over Barton at No. 3. Rodriguez posted a 6-1, 6-4 win over Armendaris at No. 2 singles and Roux added a 6-4, 6-1 win over Poleon at No. 4. Blanco added a 6-2, 6-3 win over Dias.

Osorio capped the match with his milestone win, beating Chapman Mitchell at No. 6, 7-5, 1-6, 10-7.

The Spartans wrap up the weekend road swing with a 10 a.m. Sunday match against first-year program Kennesaw State.