March 29, 2009

Final Stats

SPARTANBURG, S.C. - If the USC Upstate men's tennis team's record book wasn't exactly being rewritten on Sunday afternoon, the idea was being pitched by the Spartan starting six. Head coach Alessandro De Marzo did etch his name at the top of the school's record book, as he became the winningest tennis coach in school history and Upstate posted its 16th straight win with a convincing 6-1 victory over Jacksonville in Atlantic Sun Conference action. The Spartans were led by junior Jack Roux, who won both his doubles and singles matches to become the eighth player in school history to reach 100 career combined wins.

De Marzo, in his fifth year as head coach of both the men's and women's tennis programs, moved ahead of the school record of wins as tennis coach, held by Alan Ferguson, who won 117 matches with the men's program from 1988-97 and 40 with the women's program from 1991-97 for 157 career wins. De Marzo has a 74-26 record with the women's program and an 84-26 record with men's program, giving him 158 wins since taking over in 2004.

Several other Spartans closed in on milestones, including junior Javier Tori, who became the 13th player in school history to win 20 singles matches in a season with his three-set win. He is just the third player in school history to win 20 wins twice, joining Jorge Ventura and Lavnish Chatrath, who both accomplished the feat in 1995 and 1996.

The Spartans are also just two wins shy of the school record of 18 straight wins set by the 2003 Peach Belt Conference Championship team.

Senior Leandro Osorio moved within three doubles wins of the school-record of 71 set by Stefan Dumitrescu from 2003-07. Tori also moved within shouting distance of a couple school records, as he is currently third in school history with 54 singles wins, just four behind the school-record of 57 set by Jorge Ventura from 1994-97. His 115 career combined wins (singles and doubles) is just four behind the school record of 119 set by Dumitrescu.

Meanwhile, Roux is just one singles win (53) behind Tori to go behind his 47 doubles wins to become the fourth player this season to reach the 100-win mark. Osorio has 114 career combined wins, which is also just one behind Tori.

Upstate got out to a quick start by sweeping doubles play, as Osorio and Roux beat Victor Vaz and Jaime Esteban, 8-4, at No. 2, freshmen Ramiro Blanco and Edgar Rodriguez added an 8-6 win over Marcos Oliveira and Jordi Ballester at No. 3 and juniors Tori and Renzo Airaldi added an 8-6 win over Francisco Riveroll and Matthew Rock at No. 1.

In singles play, Blanco won his 18th straight match with a 6-3, 6-0 win over Oliveira at No. 5 and Rodriguez posted a 6-4, 6-3 win over Ballester at No. 1. The Spartans clinched the match with an emotional 4-6, 6-4, 6-0 win by Roux for his 100th career win over Esteban at No. 4. Tori came from a one-set, one-game deficit to post a 5-7, 6-3, 6-3 win over Vaz at No. 3 and after a loss at No. 2, Osorio wrapped up the match with a 6-7 (9), 7-5, 7-6 super tiebreak win at No. 6.

The Spartans get back in action on Monday at the USC Upstate Tennis Complex when they play A-Sun foe North Florida at 2 p.m.