ROCK HILL, SC – Despite missing key players from their lineups the Winthrop men's and women's tennis teams swept Coastal Carolina by identical 6-1 scores on Saturday in Big South Conference action at the Memorial Courts.
With the win, the men improve to 8-11 (4-1) on the season, while the women are now 11-8 (5-1).
The men's team played without its No. 1 singles player Sergey Belov and No. 3 singles player Diego Toledo due to injuries, while the women's team played without its No. 1 singles player Elizaveta Zaytseva also because of injury.
In men's action, the Eagles started ahead on the scoreboard as they captured the doubles point. In the No. 1 doubles match, Nadav Ruppin and Guy Kubi beat Matt Gordon and Peter Billingham 8-5, while Daniel Daudt and Liran Levy defeated Alex Funkhouser and Dmitry Vlaskin 8-4 in the No. 2 doubles match.
Winthrop kept strong as it won five of the six singles matches. In the No. 2 singles match, Levy came back from one set down to defeat Vlaskin 4-6, 6-2, 10-5, while Dejon Bivens also came back from one set down to beat Funkhouser 0-6, 6-1, 7-6 in the No. 3 singles match. In the No. 4 singles match, Kubi defeated Plamen Tzvetkov 6-2, 2-6, 6-0, while Daudt beat Dorian Sovic 6-4, 6-1 in the No. 5 singles match. In the No. 6 singles match, Preetham Moras had its first win for the Eagles in singles as he beat Billingham 6-4, 6-2. In the No. 1 singles match, Ruppin fought hard but lost to Gordon 6-3, 4-6, 6-4.
“We had a great win today over Coastal, especially because our No. 1 and 3 are injured. Everybody really stepped up today and played a great match. I'm really proud of the guys,” head coach Cid Carvalho said. “We are looking forward to play Davidson at home on Tuesday, April 13, at 2 p.m. That will be the last home match for the guys and that will be their senior day.”
In their senior day, the Lady Eagles started strong as they won the doubles point. In the No. 1 doubles match, Yasmine Alkema and Lisa Wilkinson beat Lexi Bolesky and Miki Bunea 8-4, while Sandra Herrera and Giovanna Portiolli defeated Patricia Cortes and Mary Hill 8-5 in the No. 2 doubles match. In the No. 3 doubles, Paula Pereira and Sara Abutovic beat Kim Webb and Maria Camberos 8-5.
In singles play, Winthrop continued strong as it captured five of six matches. In the No. 1 singles match, Alkema beat Bolesky 6-3, 6-0, while Herrera defeated Bunea 6-1, 6-7, 10-7 in the No. 2 singles match. In the No. 3 singles match, Portiolli beat Webb 6-2, 6-2, while Wilkinson defeated Camberos 6-1, 6-2 in the No. 4 singles match. In the No. 6 singles match, Abutovic defeated Hill 6-1, 6-1. In the No. 5 singles match, senior and captain Pereira fought hard but lost to Cortes 4-6, 7-6, 10-2.
“I'm very proud of the girls. They beat a strong Coastal Carolina team without Elizaveta. Everybody had to step up and play good tennis today,” Carvalho said. “It was a great way to finish off their last home match of the season.”
The women's team will be back in action at 2 p.m. Wednesday as it faces UNC Charlotte in Charlotte, NC, while the men's team will face Davidson at 2 p.m. on Tuesday at the Memorial Courts.
