Box Score

ASHEVILLE, NC – Freshman Rich Meade returned to the Winthrop lineup and earned a straight set victory, but the Eagles fell short and were eliminated from the 2012 Big South Men's Tennis Championship by fourth-seeded Campbell 4-1 Thursday afternoon at Asheville Racquet Club Downtown.

The loss ends Winthrop's season at 10-14 overall, as Campbell moves on to the semifinal to face top-seeded Radford Friday morning. This will be the first year Winthrop will not be in the conference championship match since 2000.

In the doubles round, senior Nadav Ruppin and freshman Dylan Comerford tallied an 8-6 victory at the No. 1 position, but the Eagles fell at No. 2 as sophomore Yuta Hirokawa and senior Guy Kubi lost 8-5. The point came down to No. 3 doubles, as junior Liran Levy and Rich Meade could not come out of the tiebreak victorious, falling 9-8 (7-4).

Winthrop had a hard time finding bright spots in the singles round, only managing the lone win from Meade at the No. 6 position. Meade knocked off Ondrej Kralik 6-4, 7-5 to get the Eagles on the scoreboard.

With the Camels leading 3-1, Campbell's Steven Billington clinched the victory for the Camels with a 7-5 tiebreak victory in the second set over Comerford, sending Campbell to the semifinals.

"I'm extremely proud of the way we competed today," head coach Andrew Stubbs said. "We simply ran out of time today. I would especially like to thank our seniors who have given so much to our program."

The Eagles graduate Nadav Ruppin and two-time Big South Conference Scholar-Athlete, Guy Kubi.