Wake Forest Athletics
Wake Forest University
USC Fall Invitational
Men's Tennis Completes Successful Weekend At USC Invitational
10/19/2003 12:00:00 AM | Men's Tennis
Oct. 19, 2003
COLUMBIA, S.C.-- The Wake Forest men's tennis team wrapped up a successful weekend of play in Columbia, S.C. on Sunday. Four different Demon Deacons participated in the Flight A singles bracket, including Brett Ross and second-seeded Andrew Hamar who both advanced to Sunday's semifinals before being eliminated. Ross and his doubles partner, D.J. Spice, entered the tournament as the top seed and did not disappoint. Ross and Spice won all four matches, including the championship showdown where they faced their Wake Forest teammates Todd Paul and Hamar.
Second seeded Hamar won his opening singles match over Radford's Andar Cavaco, 6-3, 6-0 then took down Brad Pomeroy of North Carolina, 6-4, 6-3 to advance to the quarterfinals. South Carolina's Geraldo Knorr became another victim of Hamar's, falling 6-2, 6-4 in straight sets. But Hamar dropped his semifinal match, 6-2, 6-4 to Oscar Posada of ETSU.
Ross won his first three singles matches without dropping a set. Ross took care of USC-Spartanburg's Mandour in the first round, 61, 6-2 before winning his match against ETSU's Salazar, 7-6, 6-1 to advance to the quarterfinals. South Carolina's Carl Wermee was Ross' victim in thatmatch, falling 6-3, 6-2. Ross was eliminated in the semifinals by top-seeded Clayton Almeida of Winthrop who went on to win the singles championship.
Freshman Todd Paul was victorious in his first two matches before falling to Almeida, 6-4, 6-2 in the quarterfinals. Paul won a straight set match over Charleston Southern's Ricardo Ante in the first round and advanced to the quarters with another straight set victory over North Carolina's Andy Metzler.
Paul was teamed up with Hamar in flight A doubles where they advanced to the championship match against teammates Brett Ross and Spice. Paul and Hamar won their first match 8-5 over USC-Spartanburg's Gustafsson/Mandour team and took an 8-4 win in the quarterfinals over East Tennessee State's Posada/Salazar pairing. They advanced to the finals when UNC's Metzler and Boyd forfeited due to injury.
Ross and Spice dropped just seven games in their first three doubles matches against teams from Georgia Tech, South Carolina State and South Carolina before knocking out their teammates in the finals.
In his singles matches, Spice won a three-setter over Geoff Boyd of North Carolina in the first round. Spice then defeated Winthrop's Michael Kwiecien, 6-2, 7-6 before falling to Posada, 6-4, 6-4 in the quarterfinals.
In the A/B singles division, Wake Forest's Liron Strauss dropped his opening match in straight sets to Seth Bowman from the College of Charleston. Strauss finished up his weekend in the singles bracket by going 1-1 in the consolation round. Strauss and his A/B doubles partner, Joe Bates won three straight matches to advance into Sunday's final. The duo won their first match against South Carolina State's Downs/Irawan by a score of 8-2 before taking an 8-5 victory over ETSU's Iglesias and Serrano in the quarterfinals. Wofford's team of Barlow and Smith were Strauss and Bates' next victim, falling to the Deacs by a score of 8-6 in the semifinals. But Strauss and Bates' run ended in the championship match when they dropped an 8-4 decision to Hampton's Paiva/Uehara team.
In singles competition, Bates dropped his opening match to Georgia Tech's Noah Tyler, but went on to win four matches in a row in the consolation bracket, winning that division. Bates took down College of Charleston's Bill Brehmer, 2-6, 7-6, 10-6 in the first round before a bye took him into the quarterfinals. In the quarters, Bates knocked off Nico Jungkind of Weber State, 6-2, 6-2. He then won a 6-2, 6-3 match over Radford's Robel Mengisteab before finishing off his title run with a 5-7, 6-1, 1-0(7) victory over Wofford's Alex Fridzon in the final consolation match. Freshman Will Chewning also won two Flight B singles matches for the Deacs before falling to Coastal Carolina's Richard Redding in the quarterfinals.
The ITA Fall Regionals will be held in Chapel Hill, N.C. starting Wednesday October 22nd. After a two and a half month break, the Demon Deacons will then return to action January 16, 2004 when they host the ACC Indoors at the Wake Forest University Indoor Tennis Center.
Players Mentioned
