Wake Forest Athletics
Wake Forest University
UGA Fall Intercollegiate
Men's Tennis Finishes Strong At Southern Intercollegiate Championships
9/22/2003 12:00:00 AM | Men's Tennis
Sept. 22, 2003
ATHENS, GA.-- The Wake Forest men's tennis team opened up the fall season with an impressive showing at the 2003 Southern Intercollegiate Championships held at the Dan Magill Complex at the University of Georgia. Sophomore Brett Ross took home the second division singles championship for the Demon Deacons and the doubles team of Ross and Derrick Spice placed second overall.
Ross, a native of Roswell, Ga., strung together six consecutive victories to win the division II singles title. Ross beat Chris Brandi of Florida, 6-1, 7-6 and took down ETSU's Fernando Fiuri 4-6, 6-1, 6-2 on Friday. Ross then knocked out Ricardo Gonzalez of Georgia in straight sets on Saturday to advance to Sunday's quarterfinals. A 6-0, 6-1 victory over Armstrong Atlantic's Roger Thiele on Sunday morning put Ross in the semifinals where he defeated Frederik Aarum of Ole Miss to advance to the championship match. Ross trailed Aarum 1-2 in the third and deciding set before Aarum was forced to retire. In the championship match, Ross faced Mississippi State's Luiz Carvalho and dropped the first set 2-6, but came back strong and took the next two sets 6-4 and 6-3.
In division I doubles competition, the fifth-seeded team of Ross and Spice advanced to Monday's championship match before losing to Georgia's second-seeded team of Hodge and John Isner, 8-5. The Spice/Ross duo took down four other teams on their way to Monday's second-place finish.
In his first collegiate tennis match, freshman Andrew Hamar faced top-seeded Bo Hodge of Georgia and fell in straight sets, 6-4, 6-3. Hodge is ranked second overall in the nation and advanced to the division I singles championship match before losing to third-seeded Matt Lockin of Vanderbilt.
Hamar responded well by winning two matches in the consolation bracket and advancing to the semi-finals before losing to Miha Lisac of Georgia State. Hamar advanced to the semifinals by recording straight set victories over ninth-seeded Clayton Almeida of Winthrop and Erik Flygt of Lander University.
Junior D.J. Spice won his opening singles match against William & Mary's Geoffrey Russell, but was knocked out in three sets in his second match by third-seeded Matt Lockin of Vanderbilt. Lockin would go on to defeat the Bulldogs' Hodge in the division I singles championship match.
Sophomore Liron Strauss lost his opening round division II singles match on Friday, 6-3, 6-3 to Stephan Timu of Georgia. But Strauss knocked off Albano Franco of Georgia State on Saturday in the consolation bracket before dropping a match to Vanderbilt's Lewis Smith in the quarterfinals.
In division II doubles, Wake Forest's team of Strauss and Hamar dropped their first match on Saturday to the eighth-seeded Brown/Heinberg team from Duke.
The Demon Deacons return to action this weekend when they travel to Charlottesville for the UVA Fall Tournament.
For complete results of the Southern Intercollegiate Championships, visit www.georgiadogs.com.
