By Sean Montgomery, Sports Information Assistant
MILLEDGEVILLE, Ga. – The No. 13 Georgia College Men's Tennis team (10-5, 3-3 PBC) hosted No. 5 Lander University (12-2, 7-1 PBC) Wednesday in a Peach Belt Conference (PBC) contest at the Centennial Center Tennis Facility. The two national powerhouses battled back and forth but the Bearcats gained the final edge, as the Bobcats fell, 5-4.
The Bobcat men raced out to an early lead, taking the positive result in two out of the three doubles contests.
In the first slot, the No. 8 pair of Yannick Hass (Troisdorf, Germany) and Christian Graff (Lohmar, Germany) blazed through Marc Hofer and Alexander Regner to take the opening victory, 8-3. Vincent Castermans (Grenoble, France) and Pedro Ecenarro (Santiago de Compostela, Spain) increased the margin with an 8-3 win of their own over Loic Minery and Ozan Cildir in the third slot.
The lone doubles loss came in the second slot when Chris Devioze and David Korsten defeated Jannik Kumbier (Neümunster, Germany) and Taylor Powell (Martinez), in a close 8-6 contest.
Kumbier bounced back immediately, quickly extending the Georgia College lead with a 6-1, 7-5 dominating upset over No. 14 Mark Hofer in the second slot. However, the Bearcats responded with wins in the first and third slots to edge their way back into the contest beginning when Powell was suppressed in the third slot, dropping a 6-2, 6-3 contest to No. 35 Loic Minery.
No. 14 Hass dueled with No. 9 Devoize in the first slot, losing the first set by a slight 7-5 margin. But the All-American battled back to force a third with a convincing 6-2 result. After numerous intense rallies, Devoise just managed to squeeze past Hass, claiming the third set 6-4 to secure the match victory.
With the score at 3-2 in favor of Georgia College, Graff toughed out a contest with Cildier, winning 6-2, 7-6 (6-3) to extend the Bobcat lead to two.
Although the Bobcats needed just a single win, Lander answered with wins in the final two matches to secure the massive comeback and avoid the upset. Ecenarro fell in the fifth slot to Korsten, 6-4, 6-3, while Castermans was narrowly defeated 6-2, 4-6, 7-6 by Springer in the sixth.
The loss snaps a six-game win streak by the Bobcat men. They will return to the courts and look to start anew when they host non-conference opponent No. 42 West Alabama University Saturday, April 2 at p.m.
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 all social media formats for up-to-the-minute reports, and visit GCBobcats.PhotoReflect.com to purchase photo prints from home athletic contests.
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