CLINTON, S.C. – The Presbyterian College men's tennis team grabbed their fourth and fifth straight wins while keeping up their perfect start to Big South Conference play on Saturday, toppling Liberty, 7-0, and Newberry, 6-1, at Templeton Tennis Courts.
PC improves to 18-3 overall and 3-0 in the Big South. The Blue Hose will next resume League play on Wednesday at home against Gardner-Webb at 2 p.m. Liberty moves to 6-7 on the year, 0-1 in the Big South and plays at NC Central on Thursday at 1 p.m. Newberry moves to 6-5.
The Blue Hose won 17 of 18 matches on the day between the two dual matches.
PC 7, Liberty 0
The Blue Hose began the day with a morning shutout of the Flames, 7-0. Doubles play saw to 8-6 wins at the top two flights as Rafael Berghaus (Offenbach, Germany) and Joel Roberts (Summerville, S.C.) held off Shea Thomas and Jorge Azuero at No. 1 while Ryan Miller (Norcross, Ga.) and Ben Kelley (Weaverville, N.C.) bested Egon Samaai and Dillon Segur at No. 2.
The third-flight pairing of Diego Manzanas (Madrid, Spain) and Grayson Mills (Lilburn, Ga.) improved to 8-0 together by handing Stan Vaughn and Alejandro Llamas an 8-2 loss.
In singles, Kelley kickstarted the six victories with a fifth-flight win over Segur, 6-3, 6-1. Fellow freshman Roberts followed at No. 4 over Llamas, 6-2, 7-6, before Manzanas clinched the match for the Blue Hose by toppling Vaughn at the sixth flight, 6-4, 6-3.
Two of the final three matches went to ten-point tiebreakers. Miller's third-flight match took three sets for the sophomore to win over Samaai and the Blue Hose gutted out a 6-4, 5-7, 6-4 victory over the Flame. At No. 2, Berghaus pushed past Azuero in a 7-6, 3-6, 10-6 result and Mills won his team-leading 15th match at the top flight by beating Thomas in a tiebreaker, 7-6, 6-7, 10-5.
Singles competition
1. MILLS, Grayson (PCM) def. THOMAS, Shea (LIBERTYM) 7-6, 6-7, 10-5
2. BERGHAUS, Rafael (PCM) def. AZUERO, Jorge (LIBERTYM) 7-6, 3-6, 10-6
3. MILLER, Ryan (PCM) def. SAMAAI, Egon (LIBERTYM) 6-4, 5-7, 6-4
4. ROBERTS, Joel (PCM) def. LLAMAS, Alejandro (LIBERTYM) 6-2, 7-6
5. KELLEY, Ben (PCM) def. SEGUR, Dillon (LIBERTYM) 6-3, 6-1
6. MANZANAS, Diego (PCM) def. VAUGHAN, Stan (LIBERTYM) 6-4, 6-3
Doubles competition
1. BERGHAUS, Rafael/ROBERTS, Joel (PCM) def. THOMAS, Shea/AZUERO, Jorge (LIBERTYM) 8-6
2. MILLER, Ryan/KELLEY, Ben (PCM) def. SAMAAI, Egon/SEGUR, Dillon (LIBERTYM) 8-6
3. MANZANAS, Diego/MILLS, Grayson (PCM) def. VAUGHAN, Stan/LLAMAS, Alejandro (LIBERTYM) 8-2
PC 6, Newberry 1
The Blue Hose continued their winning ways by soundly beating Newberry in the second match of the doubleheader, 6-1.
Doubles play saw Manzanas and Bruce blank David Sons and Jeffrey Kiser at the third flight, 8-0. Roberts and Berghaus held off Carlos Nicolopulos and Fernando Espana at No. 2, 8-5, while Miller and Kelley made it a clean sweep at No. 1 by besting Vinicius Botelho and Monhammed Chakir, 8-2.
In singles action, Kelley completely shut out Sons at the fifth flight, 6-0, 6-0. Roberts and Bruce dropped only two games to Nicolopulos (6-2, 6-0) and Chakir (6-0, 6-2) at the fourth and third flights, respectively. Weaver cleaned up at No. 6 over Kiser, 6-4, 6-2, while Miller cruised past Espana at the second flight, 6-1, 6-2. Newberry's only win came at the top flight as Botelho squeezed past Berghaus in a tiebreaker, 6-2, 5-7, 10-3.
Singles competition
1. Vinicius Botelho (NBYM) def. BERGHAUS, Rafael (PCM) 6-2, 5-7, 10-3
2. MILLER, Ryan (PCM) def. Fernando Espana (NBYM) 6-1, 6-2
3. BRUCE, Danny (PCM) def. Mohammed Chakir (NBYM) 6-0, 6-2
4. ROBERTS, Joel (PCM) def. Carlos Nicolopulos (NBYM) 6-2, 6-0
5. KELLEY, Ben (PCM) def. David Sons (NBYM) 6-0, 6-0
6. WEAVER, Steven (PCM) def. Jeffery Kiser (NBYM) 6-4, 6-2
Doubles competition
1. MILLER, Ryan/KELLEY, Ben (PCM) def. Vinicius Botelho/Mohammed Chakir (NBYM) 8-2
2. ROBERTS, Joel/BERGHAUS, Rafael (PCM) def. Carlos Nicolopulos/Fernando Espana (NBYM) 8-5
3. MANZANAS, Diego/BRUCE, Danny (PCM) def. David Sons/Jeffery Kiser (NBYM) 8-0
