March 6, 2009
Final Stats
SPARTANBURG, S.C. -
The USC Upstate men's tennis team extended its winning streak to a Division I-era record eight matches, the fifth longest streak in school history, as Upstate downed Belmont, 6-1, in both schools' Atlantic Sun Conference openers on Friday afternoon.
The Spartans (10-2 overall, 1-0 A-Sun) extended their winning streak to eight matches, passing the previous DI best of a seven match winning streak in 2008, but still have a lot of work to catch up to the school record of 19 straight wins, set by a 2003 Peach Belt regular season champions Upstate squad coached by current assistant coach Tami Matheny.
Junior Javier Tori, thanks to win at No. 1 doubles with fellow junior Renzo Airaldi and a win at No. 4 singles, became the fifth player in school history to reach 100 career combined wins. Tori, who has a 47-26 career singles record and a 53-20 career doubles record, is seventh in school history in singles wins and is tied for fifth in doubles wins with Airaldi.
Senior Leandro Osorio also became the third player in school history to reach 60 career doubles wins with his win at No. 3 doubles with freshman Ramiro Blanco, joining select company in Division II All-Americans Stefan Dumitrescu (71 wins, 2003-07) and Jose Luis Reyes (63 wins, 2001-05) in the group.
Tori and Airaldi led the Spartans in doubles play with an 8-3 win over Renato Antun and Fausto Rocha at No. 1 before the two other doubles pairs finished off a sweep. Osorio and freshman Ramiro Blanco posted an 8-4 win over Javier Rodriguez and Rafael Maros at No. 3 and freshman Edgar Rodriguez and junior Jack Roux capped doubles with an 8-6 win over Joao Paoliello and Rodrigo Amaral at No. 2.
The Spartans won the first five singles decisions to take a 6-0 lead before the Bruins (4-4 overall, 0-1 A-Sun) won the final match at No. 2 singles. Osorio started the Spartans off with a 6-2, 6-4 win over Matos at No. 6 before Blanco posted a 7-5, 6-3 win over Antun at No. 5. Tori added a 6-3, 6-4 win over Rocha at No. 3 singles and Edgar Rodriguez posted a 7-6 (5), 6-1 win over Paoliello at No. 1. Roux capped off Upstate's wins with a 5-7, 7-6 (4), 11-9 super-set tiebreaker win at No. 4.
Upstate will be back at the USC Upstate Tennis Complex on Saturday when it hosts A-Sun foe Lipscomb at 10 a.m.
