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Spartanburg, S.C. – The fourth-seeded USC Upstate men's tennis team will make its first-ever appearance in the A-Sun Men's Tennis Championship match following a 4-3 come-from-behind victory over No. 1 seed Florida Gulf Coast Saturday morning from the USC Upstate Tennis Complex.
Upstate improves to 9-13 on the season while FGCU's season ends with a 16-6 overall record.
"I have been here before as a coach," said head coach Dr. Oliver Trittenwein. "It is a wonderful, inexpressible feeling to see young men who I have worked with for four years at Upstate experience such a thing as this."
A-Sun All-Freshman Team performer Lenhard Haupt sent the Spartans to their first conference tournament championship appearance after rallying for a three-set victory over Eduardo Alfonzo in the number four singles match. Haupt won the first set 6-4 before falling 6-3 in the second. Trailing 3-2 in the final set, Haupt settled in to win four straight games for Upstate, clinching the 6-3 victory.
The Spartans grabbed the early 1-0 lead over Florida Gulf Coast after taking wins at number one and three doubles. The duo of Ignacio Garrido and Matt Bennion began things for Upstate by cruising to a 6-1 win at the number three position over Javier Fernandez and Eduardo Alfonzo. Ramon Simonetti and Ankush Arora would secure the doubles point as the number one combination topped Andres Alfonzo and Ezequiel Cerrini by a score of 6-2.
The teams traded singles victories as Jamie Yates gave the Spartans a 2-1 advantage when he defeated Cerrini in straight sets 6-2, 6-2. FGCU took the lead back at 3-2 after winning back-to-back matches at five and six. Simonetti began the Upstate comeback during his number one singles match after registering a 7-5, 7-6 (4) victory against Andres Alfonzo.
"To come out and play the first seed after having finished a match yesterday is, again, inexpressible," added Trittenwein. "We are always a hard team to play. To do what we did today will show the conference and most importantly for my guys, especially the new guys coming back next year, that we can win the conference."
The Spartans face second-seeded North Florida Sunday morning at 10 a.m. in the finals of the A-Sun Men's Tennis Championship. The team will hand out Krispy Kreme doughnuts to USC Upstate students who attend the championship match.
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