TROY, Ala. - The Troy Trojans were unable to overcome losing the doubles point on Saturday morning, falling to visiting USC Upstate 4-3 at the Lunsford Tennis Complex.
The doubles team of Benjamin Chomette and Xavier Masson were poised to be the first team off the courts Saturday morning, leading 4-2. Unfortunately, they were the first team off the courts, but not the way that they envisioned. The duo dropped six consecutive points to fall to USC Upstate's team of Javier Tori and Renzo Airaldi, 8-4.
Troy (0-4) still had a chance to salvage the doubles point when the number three team of Bastain Maucher and Aurelien Tave led USC Upstate's team of Edgar Rodriguez and Jack Roux 3-0 in the early stages of their match. Unfortunately for the Trojans, they were unable to hold the lead and eventually fell 8-6 to USC Upstate, handing the Spartans the doubles point and putting them ahead 1-0 heading into singles play.
Troy did get a victory in doubles, at the number one position, as the team of Branko Weber and Mario Silva continued their hot play into the weekend. The duo, who were serving for the match against the number one doubles team in the nation earlier this week, claimed an 8-4 victory over USC Upstate's Leandro Osorio and Ramiro Blanco.
In singles play, the Trojans won the top three singles matches but it wasn't enough as USC Upstate won the bottom three matches to claim the victory. Before singles play started, however, Troy coach Eric Hayes had to make a change to his lineup due to an injury to Silva. In order for that to happen, Silva (at number three) was replaced in the lineup by Maxime Zamora who was inserted into the number six singles position. That meant that four through six were all moved up one spot to accomodate Zamora.
The first match off the court involved Troy's Maucher at number four singles. The junior fell to USC Upstate's Roux in straight sets; 6-2, 6-3 to give the Spartans a 2-0 lead with five singles matches still on the court. The next position off the court was at number two when Troy's Tave defeated Rodriguez in straight sets; 6-1, 6-2 to give Troy their first victory on the day and cut the deficit to 2-1 overall.
Trailing 2-1, the Trojans needed a win to even things up. However, USC Upstate was able to win the next two singles matches to clinch the victory. At number five, Guilherme Sahadi fell to USC Upstate's Lovera in straight sets 6-4, 6-3; before Zamora fell at number six to Osorio 7-5, 7-5 to clinch the victory for USC Upstate.
With the match all ready decided, the Trojans were able to win the last two matches on the day which both were in the third set when the match was decided. Weber picked up his first singles victory of the season over Airaldi after falling in the first set; 2-6, 6-3, 6-2. In the last match of the day, the Trojans got a victory at number three when Chomette picked up a 6-2, 2-6, 6-4 victory to end the day.
Troy returns to action at home against Nicholls State next Saturday, February 7. The match is scheduled to begin at 10 am, and is one of only three remaining home matches this season.
