RALEIGH, N.C. – The USC Upstate men's tennis team fell in their 2020 spring season opener on Saturday afternoon to No. 23 N.C. State, 7-0.
"To open up the season after only a few days of practice against a top-25 opponent is always going to be a tough ask," USC Upstate head tennis coach
Tim McLane said. "I was very pleased with the way the whole team played today. Obviously we've got some things to work on the next couple of weeks, but I loved the way we competed today."
The day began in with doubles action as the Spartans faltered at the No.1 doubles court. USC Upstate's (0-1) top tandem of
Fernando Bernardes and
Frederick Sydow fell 6-0 to the No. 1 doubles team of Alexis Galarneau and Robert Turzak.
At the No. 3 doubles court the Spartans found a little bit of success as the team of
Luka Eble and
Alex Muehr took a pair of games off Martins Rocens and Joseph Schrader. USC Upstate lost the doubles point at the No. 2 court when the Spartans No. 2 duo of
Leon Roider and
Tom Russwurm fell 6-1.
In singles action Bernardes fell at the No. 1 singles position 6-0, 6-2 to Yanni Barkai of N.C. State.
Leon Roider gave the Wolfpack a bit of trouble in the opening set as he lost 7-5 to Robert Turzak. Turzak took the second set 6-4 to give the Wolfpack another point. At the No. 3 singles position Eble fell 6-4, 6-4 to Martins Rocens and Sydow fell 6-0, 6-2 to Robin Cantry.
Muehr gave it his all at the No. 6 singles slot but it was not enough as he fell 6-1, 6-4. Russwurm made the Wolfpack sweat a little in the opening set but came up short in a 7-6 loss. Russwurm fell 6-2 in the final set to N.C. State the final point of the match.
"We were hanging around on every court and the score may not show it, but we gave ourselves chances on every court to get back in those matches and at the end of the day that's all we ask of our guys," McLane stated. "Our goal is to go out there and compete top to bottom and we definitely accomplished that today."
Inclement weather in the midlands region of South Carolina has postponed the South Carolina match tomorrow afternoon. The USC Upstate men's tennis team will be back in action next Saturday against Coastal Carolina.
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