RADFORD, VA – The Winthrop men's tennis team is on the final of the Big South Championship as it defeated Coastal Carolina 4-3 on Friday in Radford, VA.
With the win, Winthrop improves to 12-11 (7-1) on the season.
The Eagles captured the doubles point as they won two of the three doubles matches. Winthrop started behind as Sergey Belov and Daniel Daudt lost to Matt Gordon and Peter Billingham 8-2 in the no. 1 doubles match but recovered by winning doubles no. 2 and 3. In the no. 3 spot, Liran Levy and Dejon Bivens tied the doubles competition as they beat Dorian Sovic and Plamen Tzvetkov 9-8. The no. 2 duo Nadav Ruppin and Guy Kubi gave the Eagles the doubles point as they beat Dmitry Vlaskin and Alex Funkhouser also 9-8.
In singles play, Coastal gained the 2-1 lead as CCU's Funkhouser beat Bivens 6-3, 6-4 in the no. 4 singles match and CCU's Gordon defeated Belov 7-6, 6-4 in the no. 1 singles match. Winthrop recovered to 3-2 as Levy beat Tzvetkov 6-4, 6-3 in the no. 3 singles match and Kubi defeated Billingham 6-2, 3-6, 6-3 in the no. 5 singles match. Coastal tied the dual match 3-3 as CCU's Sovic beat Daudt 6-4, 3-6, 6-3 in the no. 6 singles match. The clincher came in the no. 2 singles match as Ruppin defeated Vlaskin 6-3, 4-6, 6-2.
"We had to win two tie breakers to win the doubles point. Dejon and Levy had to come back from a match point down to win the match. Kubi and Nadav also had to win their match on the tie breaker so we could win the doubles point," said head coach Cid Carvalho. "Then in singles, Levy played very well, winning in straight sets. Kubi won in three sets. Then Nadav won the clincher also in the third set. Coastal Carolina played very well. Our guys had to play outstanding tennis to win the match. We are happy to be in the finals tomorrow."
The Eagles will face Radford in the finals of the Big South Championship at 1 p.m. on Saturday in Radford, VA.
