by Matt Dalby, sports information graduate assistant
GREENWOOD, S.C. – The No. 14 Georgia College men's tennis squad (4-5, 0-4 PBC) were unable to get much going Tuesday afternoon against the No. 10 Lander University Bearcats (12-2, 3-1 PBC), falling by a score of 7-2.
The Bobcats picked up an early victory from the likes of No. 14 Jerome Leborgne (Coordimanche, France) and Johan Wadstein (Helsingborg, Sweden), who defeated Vincent Verpeaux and Adam Jonsson 9-8 at the top doubles spot. The Bobcat duo improves to 7-2 on the year.
Kasper Konyves (Helsingborg, Sweden) and Tyler Franks (Greensboro, Ga.) battled at the second position, eventually falling 8-4 to Oscar Axelsson and Ross Armstrong, while the tandem of Leo Bernardes (Sao Paulo, Brazil) and Wictor Andersson (Karlskoga, Sweden) lost to Paul-Henri Arrigoni and Samuel Poutignat 8-2.
Bernardes was able to pick up the lone Bobcat singles victory, taking down Jonsson quickly 6-2, 6-1. One of two seniors on the squad, Bernardes is now 6-3 in singles action this season.
Unfortunately, this would be all the Bobcats would muster as No. 13 Leborgne dropped a heartbreaking tiebreaker 6-7, 7-5, 11-9 to Verpeaux at the first slot.
Wadstein didn't fare much better falling to No. 15 Arrigoni in the second 6-4, 6-2, as did Alex Schubert (Frankfurt, Germany) 6-1, 6-4 to Diego Zeggara in fourth singles.
Franks played a tough match with Axelsson in the sixth slot, but was unable to gain control of the match dropping it 7-5, 6-4. Rounding out the scoring for the Bearcats was Poutignat who topped Konyves in fourth singles 7-5, 6-4.
GC will look to pick up their first Peach Belt Conference (PBC) victory of the season when they host Georgia Southwestern State University Saturday, March 24 at 1 p.m.
The Georgia College Department of Athletics, two-time winners of the PBC Commissioner's Cup, sponsors 10 varsity athletic programs at the NCAA Division II level. As a Division II program, Bobcat Athletics prides itself on balancing the life of the student-athlete, evidenced by the teams' multiple appearances in post-season competition as well as documented academic success and community-service involvement. Sign up at www.twitter.com/BobcatSports and www.facebook.com/gcbobcats for up-to-the-minute reports, and visit www.GCBobcats.com for more information, and to nominate your favorite former Bobcats and Colonials to the GC Athletics Hall of Fame.
