March 7, 2009

Final Stats | Photo Gallery

SPARTANBURG, S.C. - Junior Renzo Airaldi became the 15th player in school history to reach 40 career singles wins and the USC Upstate men's tennis team won its ninth straight match on Saturday afternoon, taking a 7-0 decision from Atlantic Sun Conference foe Lipscomb at the USC Upstate Tennis Complex.

The Spartans improved to 11-2 overall and 2-0 in A-Sun play and Lipscomb fell to 4-4 overall and 0-2 in A-Sun play.

Upstate swept doubles play, as Airaldi and fellow junior Javier Tori defeated Daniel Hangstefer and Mario Hernandez, 8-3, at No. 1. Junior Jack Roux and freshman Edgar Rodriguez added an 8-2 win over James Murrell and Chad Pierron and senior Leandro Osorio and freshman Ramiro Blanco added an 8-3 win over Andy Mizell and Joe McArdle at No. 3.

In singles play, Rodriguez got the Spartans out to a quick start with a 6-1, 6-0 win over McArdle at No. 1. Blanco followed with a 6-1, 6-1 win over Josh Cummings at No. 5 singles and Roux added a 6-2, 6-1 win over Murrell at No. 4 to clinch the match. Tori posted a 6-1, 6-4 win over Bruno Melibou at No. 3 and the Spartans added two super-set tiebreaker wins to close the match. At No. 6, Osorio posted a 4-6, 6-4, 10-6 come-from-behind win over Pierron and Airaldi posted his win, 3-5, 7-6 (4), 10-4 over Hangstefer at No. 2.

Upstate gets back into action on Saturday when it travels to Mercer for a 10 a.m. A-Sun clash. The Spartans wrap up the weekend road swing with a 10 a.m. Sunday match against first-year program Kennesaw State.