Wake Forest University
South Carolina
No. 19 Deacons down No. 26 Gamecocks, 5-2
2/7/2014 12:00:00 AM | Men's Tennis
Feb. 7, 2014
By Ben Helms, WakeForestSports.com
WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. - Romain Bogaerts cruised to a victory over a top 50 opponent and Adam Lee clinched the match with a tiebreaker victory as Wake Forest defeated South Carolina 5-2 on Friday at the Wake Forest Indoor Tennis Center.
Lee, who is 7-0 in dual match play this season, took the first set over Gamecock junior Kyle Koch by a score of 6-4. With the two playing to a 5-5 score in the second set, Lee broke out to a 4-1 lead in the tiebreaker and finished off the overall Deacon victory. His final score was 6-4, 6-5(3).
Bogaerts put the first singles point on the board for Wake Forest (6-1). He downed Tsvetan Mihov, the highest-ranked player for South Carolina (5-3), by a score of 6-1, 6-0.
Redshirt sophomore Jaya Billa earned a huge victory over a ranked opponent at the sixth position. Billa used a first set tiebreak winner and a dominant second set to defeat Andrew Schafer of South Carolina, ranked 91st nationally, 6-5(2), 6-2.
Wake Forest won the doubles point in exciting fashion to start off the match. Aws Laaribi and Anthony Delcore sprinted out to an early lead and defeated Adams and Schafer of South Carolina, 6-1, at the third seed. Despite playing a close match, Lee and Dumont fell at the first position to Mihov and Pinheiro, 6-4.
That gave Bogaerts and freshman Maksim Kan the chance to clinch the doubles point in a tiebreaker against Gamecock duo Chip Cox and Kyle Koch, ranked 24th in the country. Bogaerts and Kan took the tiebreaker to win the match by a score of 6-5(4), giving the Deacons the early 1-0 lead.
In other singles action, sophomore Jon Ho's match went to a third set at the fourth position, but Andrew Adams of South Carolina retired with the final set score standing at 3-0 in favor of Ho. Ho's final score was 6-2, 5-6(8), 3-0(ret.).
At the third position, Kan built an early lead in his singles match against Gamecock Thiago Pinheiro, winning the first set. But Pinheiro came from behind to win the final two sets and the match, 5-6(7), 6-3, 6-3.
At the fifth position, Pedro Dumont fell to Chip Cox of the Gamecocks by a score of 6-2, 6-1.
Wake Forest will have a quick turnaround as they play at No. 14 Tennessee on Sunday at 1 pm. The Deacons will not be back in action in Winston-Salem until March 4, when they will play a doubleheader against VCU and Belmont-Abbey.
#19 Wake Forest 5, #26 South Carolina 2
Singles competition
1. #20 Romain Bogaerts (WF) def. #41 Tsvetan Mihov (SC) 6-1, 6-0
2. #59 Adam Lee (WF) def. #103 Kyle Koch (SC) 6-4, 6-5 (7-3)
3. Thiago Pinheiro (SC) def. Maksim Kan (WF) 5-6 (7-9), 6-3, 6-3
4. Jon Ho (WF) def. Andrew Adams (SC) 6-2, 5-6 (8-10), 3-0
5. Chip Cox (SC) def. Pedro Dumont (WF) 6-2, 6-1
6. Jaya Billa (WF) def. #91 Andrew Schafer (SC) 6-5 (7-2), 6-2
Doubles competition
1. Tsvetan Mihov/Thiago Pinheiro (SC) def. #30 Adam Lee/Pedro Dumont (WF) 6-4< br=""> 2. Romain Bogaerts/Maksim Kan (WF) def. #24 Chip Cox/Kyle Koch (SC) 6-5 (7-4)
3. Aws Laaribi/Anthony Delcore (WF) def. Andrew Adams/Andrew Schafer (SC) 6-1
Match Notes:
South Carolina 5-3; National ranking #26
Wake Forest 6-1; National ranking #19
Order of finish: Doubles (3,1,2); Singles (1,5,6,2,4,3)
Players Mentioned
