University of South Carolina Upstate Athletics
Loyola Marymount
Upstate Knocks Off Loyola Marymount, 5-2, For Eighth Straight Win
3/12/2010 12:00:00 AM | Men's Tennis
March 12, 2010
LOS ANGELES - After starting the season 2-4, the USC Upstate men's tennis team has rebounded much as has been expected off them for much of the past decade. Built into a regional Division II power under Tami Matheny and then continued to a national Division II contender under Coach Alessandro De Marzo before transitioning to Division I in 2008, the 2010 team has left its first similar mark to those previous teams, winning its 10th match of the year for the 10th straight season, 5-2, over Loyola Marymount at the LMU Tennis Complex on Friday afternoon.
In the process, senior Javier Tori won both his singles and doubles matches to become the first player in school history to reach 150 career combined wins, having won 72 singles matches and 78 doubles matches.
The Spartans' school-record run of 10 straight 10-win seasons surpassed the mark of nine set by Rock Christ and Alan Ferguson, who guided Upstate to nine straight 10-win campaigns from 1988-96. Matheny coached Upstate to a 12-9 record in 2001 to start the run, winning 20 matches in her last year of 2003 before Josh Hausman led the team to 20 wins in 2004 before De Marzo took over the team in 2005. In the past six years, Upstate has won 98 matches under his guidance.
Upstate (10-4 overall) won all of its doubles matches to set the tone, as sophomores Edgar Rodriguez and Ramiro Blanco posted an 8-5 win over Renzo Maggi and Geza Bazula at No. 2 and junior Marco Linconir and senior Jack Roux notched an 8-5 win over Jack Zapala and Johan Berhof at No. 3 to clinch the point. Tori and senior Renzo Airaldi added a 9-8 (6) win over Ivan Lopez and Otto Sauer at No. 1.
In singles play, Upstate kept the pressure on by taking an early 3-0 lead over the Lions (3-6 overall). Linconir posted a 6-3, 6-0 win over Aris Andreasian at No. 6 and Roux added a 6-3, 6-1 win over Berhof at No. 5. After a loss at No. 1 in three sets, Tori won his historic match with a 6-4, 6-4 win over Maggi at No. 3 to clinch the match and Rodriguez rounded out Upstate's scoring with a 6-3, 6-4 win over Sauer at No. 2.
The Spartans wrap up the California trip on Sunday at No. 48 UC Irvine at 9 a.m. PT.
