Spartanburg, S.C. — The USC Upstate men's tennis team will be back in action for the first time in over week when they travel down to Conway, S.C. to battle Coastal Carolina on Saturday afternoon.
USC Upstate (0-1) is coming off a 7-0 loss to No. 23 N.C. State on January 11. Although the Spartans were unable to pick up a point during the match they still played the Wolfpack tough in singles action.
Leon Roider stayed competitive throughout his No. 2 singles match against Robert Turzak. Roider was one of just two Spartan athletes to force their opponent to play at least 12 games in the opening set.
Tom Russwurm forced his Wolfpack opponent into a first set tiebreak before falling in the final set 6-2.
The last time USC Upstate and Coastal Carolina (0-1) met it was the Spartans who came away with a 4-3 victory at the USC Upstate Tennis complex. At the time the win over Coastal Carolina broke a six game losing streak for the Spartans. USC Upstate struck first in doubles competition with wins at the No. 1 and No. 3 courts to take a 1-0 lead. In singles action
Luka Eble quickly took care of his opponent in straight sets while every other match went three sets.
Fernando Bernardes and Ignacio Garrido came away victorious at the No. 3 and No. 5 courts to clinch the match for USC Upstate.
This will be the Spartans first trip to Conway since the 2016-2017 season. USC Upstate is 0-3 against Coastal Carolina since the 2010 season.
Coastal Carolina is coming off a 7-0 loss to nationally ranked Wake Forest on Saturday January 18. The tandem of Zak Talic and Daiki Tanabe defeated the Demon Deacon duo of Morgan Dill and Melios Efstathiou in a tie-break to give Coastal Carolina the early lead. The lead did not last long however as Wake Forest won on the other two doubles courts to take a 1-0 advantage. In singles action Pyry Hyrkkonen forced a first set tie breaker but then lost 6-0 to give Wake Forest the point.
Fans can follow all of the action on the USC Upstate twitter page. First serve is scheduled for 1 p.m. in Conway, S.C.
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