AUGUSTA, Ga. – The No. 10 Georgia College Men's Tennis team (3-4, 1-2 PBC) dropped a road Peach Belt Conference (PBC) contest at No. 44 Augusta University (8-2, 2-2 PBC), 5-4 Friday.
The trouble started in doubles, as the Jaguars jumped out to a 2-1 advantage.
The lone Georgia College win came in the third slot, as a pair of former Peach Belt Conference (PBC) Freshmen of the Year in senior Yannick Hass (Troisdorf, Germany) and sophomore Pedro Ecenarro (Santiago de Compostella, Spain) teamed for the first time, beating Joao Ferreira and Joao Gabriel Freitas, 8-1.
Jannik Kumbier (Neumünster, Germany) and Christian Graff (Lohmar, Germany) fell to Patrick Oliveira and Nameer Shamsi in the first slot, 8-4. Taylor Powell (Martinez) and Kyle Kinsler (Suwanee) also dropped an 8-3 match to Thomas Sevel and Moritz Gehlhaus.
Singles play started with an Augusta win, as Oliveira topped No. 14 Hass in the first slot 6-3, 6-2. In fifth singles, Ecenarro picked up his second win of the day, beating Freitas in a pair of 6-3 sets. Ecenarro improves to a team-best 6-1.
No. 47 Kumbier evened the team score at 3-3 by topping Ferreira 6-3, 7-5. Powell then followed with a fourth-slot victory over Arthur Andrade in three, 4-6, 6-1, 6-2 for the team's first lead of the match. Waern gave Sevel all he could handle in sixth singles in a 6-2, 3-6, 6-4 defeat.
All knotted up at 4-4 in the team score, Gelhaus pulled off a come-from-behind win in edging Graff 4-6, 6-0, 7-6.
The victory gives Augusta two straight wins over top-20 teams, as the Jaguars beat No. 20 University of North Georgia as well.
The Bobcats are back in action tomorrow, March 5 at 11 a.m., playing host to No. 48 Wingate University in non-conference action.
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.
