MEN’S FIRST ROUND SCORES
#6 Belmont 4, #3 Austin Peay 2
#4 Jacksonville State 4, #5 Morehead State 0
BELMONT 4, AUSTIN PEAY 2
NASHVILLE – The Belmont men's tennis team advanced to the OVC Tournament Semifinals as they defeated Austin Peay 4-2 in a first round match held Friday morning at Centennial Sportsplex.
The Bruins took the early 1-0 lead as they won two of the three doubles matches. The duo of freshman Zak Khan and sophomore Stephen Goldman won at two over Aleh Drobysh and Almantes Ozells 6-2. Then, after BU lost at position one, freshman Adam Rudowski and junior Bruno Russo clinched the doubles point as they defeated Alex Kartsonis and Chad Woodham 6-4.
In singles, Belmont increased their lead to 2-0 when Rudowski beat Drobysh 6-1, 6-2 at number four. The Govs got on the board when they won at number five, but Russo's two set victory over Woodham gave BU the 3-1 lead. After Austin Peay posted win at the #3 position, the Bruins clinched the 4-2 victory when junior Cedric Dujacquier beat Aaron Jumonville 7-6, 6-4.
Belmont (10-10) has now advanced to semifinal round where they will face #2 seed Eastern Kentucky. That match is set for 10:00am Saturday morning at Centennial Sportsplex.
JACKSONVILLE STATE 4, MOREHEAD STATE 0
NASHVILLE – Jacksonville State advanced to the semifinals of the 2016 Ohio Valley Conference Men's Tennis Championships after blanking Morehead State, 4-0, in the opening round on Friday morning at Centennial Park in Nashville, Tenn.
With the win the Gamecock men have played in the semifinals of the OVC Tournament in eight of the last 10 years. JSU notched its 10th win of the season and enters the semifinals against OVC regular season champion and top-seeded, Tennessee Tech, with a 10-14 overall mark. The Eagles of Morehead State ended the season at 6-12. The tournament win was also the first under first-year head coach Andres Amores.
Jax State quickly gathered the doubles point with dominant wins at No. 2 and 3. The pairing of Pedro Wagner and Mathias Chaim remained perfect against league duos with a 6-1 win at No. 3 over MSU's Enrique Samudio and Garrett Mandrell. Wagner and Chaim have eight wins against OVC competition this season. The doubles point was clinched after Jaryd Reese and Austin McCormick topped Ognjen Sunjevaric and Nick Mercer at No. 3, 6-3.