CLINTON, S.C. – Under the lights of Templeton Tennis Courts on Monday afternoon and evening, the Presbyterian College men's tennis team grabbed a pair of home wins over Appalachian State, 6-1, and South Carolina State, 4-3 to reach 21 victories on the season and stay undefeated at Templeton Tennis Courts.
PC ends the day at 21-5, the program's second straight season with at least 20 wins. One more victory would surpass last season's Division I record of 21. The Blue Hose also improved to 12-0 at home this season and next play at UNC Asheville on Thursday at 2 p.m.
PC 4, South Carolina State 3
Monday's—by then, Monday night's—second dual match against South Carolina State came down to the No. 4 court and Danny Bruce (Marietta, Ga.) playing against Soufiane Mouline. With the dual match tied 3-3, the result hinged on the sophomore appearing in just his fourth match of the season. The Bulldog won the first set, 6-7, before Bruce grabbed the second, 6-2. Mouline broke Bruce in the third set, but the Blue Hose battled back and gutted out an emotional, deciding frame for a 6-7, 6-2, 6-4 decision at 10:20 p.m. to seal the dual match for PC.
PC won the doubles point at No. 1 and No. 2. Rafael Berghaus (Offenbach, Germany) and Joel Roberts (Summerville, S.C.) took down Jiri Stiburek and Martin Kozba at the top flight, 8-6, while Diego Manzanas (Madrid, Spain) and Grayson Mills (Lilburn, Ga.) cruised past Daniel Vala and Martin Figura, 6-1. With the point decided, the teams did not finish the third flight match and headed to singles play.
South Carolina rattled off three straight singles matches, beginning with Martin Kozba winning at No. 2 over Berghaus, 6-2, 6-1. Vala followed at the fifth flight over Gonzalo Asis (Madrid, Spain), 6-3, 6-0, and Stanislav Baco put the Bulldogs one match away from winning with a third-flight decision over Ryan Miller (Norcross, Ga.), 6-4, 6-0.
PC began its rally at the sixth flight, where Manzanas clipped Figura in a close first set before winning in the second, 7-6, 6-3. Mills then finished off Stiburek at the top flight—moving to 18-4 on the year and unbeaten at home—with a 6-3, 7-6 win. The match pulled the Blue Hose even, 3-3, and set up Bruce's heroics at No. 4.
South Carolina State moved to 8-5 with the loss and snapped a seven-match winning streak.
Singles competition
1. MILLS, Grayson (PCM) def. STIBUREK,Jiri (SCSUM) 6-3, 7-6
2. KOZBA,Martin (SCSUM) def. BERGHAUS, Rafael (PCM) 6-2, 6-1
3. BACO,Stanislav (SCSUM) def. MILLER, Ryan (PCM) 6-4, 6-0
4. BRUCE, Danny (PCM) def. MOULINE,Soufiane (SCSUM) 6-7, 6-2, 6-4
5. VALA,Daniel (SCSUM) def. ASIS, Gonzalo (PCM) 6-3, 6-0
6. MANZANAS, Diego (PCM) def. FIGURA,Martin (SCSUM) 7-6, 6-3
Doubles competition
1. BERGHAUS, Rafael/ROBERTS, Joel (PCM) def. STIBUREK,Jiri/KOZBA,Martin (SCSUM) 8-6
2. MANZANAS, Diego/MILLS, Grayson (PCM) def. VALA,Daniel/FIGURA,Martin (SCSUM) 8-1
3. KELLEY, Ben/MILLER, Ryan (PCM) vs. MOULINE,Soufiane/BACO,Stanislav (SCSUM) 6-7, unfinished
PC 6, Appalachian State 1
The Blue Hose began the day with a 6-1 victory over the Mountaineers of Appalachian State. PC won the doubles point and grabbed five singles matches en route to the win.
Doubles play began with twin 8-6 wins at the No. 2 and No. 3 flights. At the second flight, Manzanas and Mills knocked off Oliver Casey and Daniel Hoang while Ben Kelley (Weaverville, N.C.) and Miller handled Steve Lake and Jack Maddocks to take the point. At No. 1, the Mountaineers' pair of Zach Bost and Sebastien King edged Berghaus and Roberts, 8-5.
In singles play, Mills sailed to a top-flight win over King, 6-1, 6-0. Asis earned the team's other two-set win by dispatching Jan-Willem Kleynhans at the sixth flight, 7-5, 6-4.
Kelley picked up his 16th win of the season by taking down Bost at the fourth flight, 6-1, 5-7, 6-2. Meanwhile, Manzanas recovered from a first-set loss against Jack Maddocks with two strong sets for a 2-6, 6-3, 6-4 victory at No. 5. The wins moved the Blue Hose to 5-0 on the scoreboard and Roberts rounded out PC's wins with a cool third-set decision over Hoang, 6-4, 6-7, 6-1.
Appalachian State's win came at No. 2 as Casey squeezed past Berghaus in a tiebreaker, 6-7, 6-4, 10-1.
The Mountaineers moved to 7-9 with the loss.
Singles competition
1. MILLS, Grayson (PCM) def. Sebastien King (APPM) 6-1, 6-0
2. Oliver Casey (APPM) def. BERGHAUS, Rafael (PCM) 6-7, 6-4, 10-1
3. ROBERTS, Joel (PCM) def. Daniel Hoang (APPM) 6-4, 6-7, 6-1
4. KELLEY, Ben (PCM) def. Zach Bost (APPM) 6-1, 5-7, 6-2
5. MANZANAS, Diego (PCM) def. Jack Maddocks (APPM) 2-6, 6-3, 6-4
6. ASIS, Gonzalo (PCM) def. Jan-Willem Kleynhans (APPM) 7-5, 6-4
Doubles competition
1. Zach Bost/Sebastien King (APPM) def. BERGHAUS, Rafael/ROBERTS, Joel (PCM) 8-5
2. MANZANAS, Diego/MILLS, Grayson (PCM) def. Oliver Casey/Daniel Hoang (APPM) 8-6
3. KELLEY, Ben/MILLER, Ryan (PCM) def. Steve Lake/Jack Maddocks (APPM) 8-6
