By Angela Moryan, Sports Information Assistant
MACON, Ga. – The No. 11 Georgia College Men's Tennis team split the first day of action at the Mercer Gridiron Classic Friday, hosted by Mercer University.
The Bobcats played senior Kyle Kinsler (Suwanee) and freshman Nathan Connelly (McDonough) for the first round-of-32 brackets of the tournament.
In the Jets division, Kinsler faced the Division I host squad's own Efstathios Tsiranidis in between rain bouts. The Bear beat the Bobcat, 6-4 and 7-5.
The rookie Bobcat had some better luck Friday, defeating Daniel Alligood from Berry College in the Raiders division. The pair battled hard in a match that couldn't have been much closer, but Connelly pulled it out in the third set, 6-7(4), 7-6(5) and 10-6.
Saturday sees more Bobcats take the court. Fifth-seeded Jannik Kumbier (Neumünster ,Germany) will play Ion Efrim from Division I Alabama State University while Pedro Ecenarro (Santiago de Compostela, Spain) will face Division I Georgia Southern University's Eddie Landin as the second-seeded player in the tournament. Both Kumbier and Ecenarro prepare to play in the tournament's top division, the Buccaneers.
Anton Waern (Taby, Sweden) will also see action Saturday in the Jets division. The eighth-seeded Bobcat fights Alabama State's Tomas Fernandez in the round-of-16.
In the Raiders division, Connelly will have his second match of the tournament against a Georgia Southern Eagle in Murphy McCollough, who is seeded first in the bracket.
The Georgia College Department of Athletics, two-time winners of the PBC Commissioner's Cup, sponsors 11 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 @GCBobcats on social media for up-to-the-minute reports, and visit GCBobcats.PhotoReflect.com to purchase photo prints from home athletic contests.
