No. 9 Cougars Open Season With 8-1 Victory Over Shorter
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Rome, GA – The ninth-ranked Columbus State Univeristy men's tennis team began the season in style by defeating Shorter 8-1 on Friday afternoon. Shorter came into the match as the 10th ranked NAIA school in the nation. The match took place at the Rome-Floyd Tennis Center in Rome.
The season started out just how head coach Evan Isaacs planned it as the Cougars won all three doubles matches. At number one doubles, All-American Gordan Divljak and newcomer Quentin Rayniere took down the duo of Guillaume Ledrap and Romain Lefevre 8-3. Martin Shishkov and Danilo Sardelli had a little trouble at second doubles but still prevailed 8-5 over Romain Ferriera and Florian Etienne. Freshamn Adi Malicbegovic and sophomore Michael Trebuhov completed the sweep taking down the Shorter duo of Colt Kelley and Arturo Lifshitz 8-3.
The only blemish of the day for Columbus State came when Ledrap upset Shishkov who came into the match as the 42nd ranked player in the nation. Ledrap won the match 6-3, 7-5. Divljak wasted no time putting the Cougars back in the win column as he defeated Lefevre 6-3, 6-0. In another tightly contested match, Rayniere defeated Ferriera 7-6, 2-6, 6-2.
In his first collegiate match, Oussama Zoghlami defeated Lifshitz of Shorter 6-3, 6-4. Trebuhov got pushed into an extra game in the first set at number five singles but had no problem in the second set of action as he defeated Etienne 7-5, 6-1. To wrap up the day, Sardelli almost pitched a shutout against Kelly defeating him 6-1, 6-0.
Columbus State will open their home portion of the schedule on Wednesday, February 8 against Georgia Southwestern. The match will begin at 2:00 p.m. at the Mary V. Blackmon Tennis Center.
Note : The Stillman match, which was previously scheduled for Sunday, February 5 has been moved to Tuesday, February 21 because of predicted weather.
1. Guillaume Ledrap (SU) def. #42 Martin Shishkov (CSU) - 6-3, 7-5
2. Gordan Divljak (CSU) def. Romain Lefevre (SU) - 6-3, 6-0
3. Quentin Rayniere (CSU) def. Romain Ferriera (SU) - 7-6, 2-6, 6-2
4. Oussama Zoghlami (CSU) def. Arturo Lifshitz (SU) - 6-3, 6-4
5. Michael Trebuhov (CSU) def. Florain Etienne (SU) - 7-5, 6-1
6. Danilo Sardelli (CSU) def. Colt Kelley (SU) – 6-1, 6-0
1. Divljak/Rayniere (CSU) def. Ledrap/Lefevre (SU) – 8-3
2. Shishkov/Sardelli (CSU) def. Ferriera/Etienne (SU) – 8-5
3. Adi Malicbegovic/Trebuhov def. Kelley/Lifshitz (SU) – 8-3
