Friday, 02/19/2010

COLUMBIA, S.C. - Love was in the air as No. 46 South Carolina men's tennis swept Elon 7-0 on Sunday. The Gamecocks (5-2) celebrated Valentine's Day with a perfect effort as only one singles match went into a third set. Senior Diego Cubas was the most efficient Gamecock on the singles side, dropping just four games in his straight-set victory in the No. 1 position.

The doubles matches finished in order as the Gamecocks cruised through the first set of matches to secure the doubles point. In the singles matches, Cubas made quick work of Elon's Philip Nemec 6-1, 6-3, while Pedro Campos was just one game off Cubas' pace with a 6-3, 6-2 win over Chase Helpingstine in the No. 2 spot. After Ivan Machado sealed the Gamecock victory with his 6-3, 6-3
win over Alberto Rojas, Ivan Cressoni followed suit with a straight-set win over Cody Stauffer-MacDowell, 6-1, 6-4.

Elon's Eric Turner stirred things up giving South Carolina's Alexander Kostanov a run for him money in a three-set match. Kostanov pulled away with the victory in the third set, winning the match 6-3, 3-6, 6-0. The last match to be finished came down to the wire as South Carolina's Johannes Pulsfort put up a fight against Elon's Carlos Arboleda in a two-set win. After winning the first set 6-2, Pulsfort was behind 2-5 in a match that appeared to be headed for a third set. However the Gamecock junior fought back and was able to pull away with the second set win to capture the match with a 6-2, 7-5 victory.

The Gamecocks have nearly two weeks between matches, returning to the court on Sat., Feb. 27, against Appalachian State at 1 p.m. Unless there is inclement weather, that match will be South Carolina's first outdoor match of the season.


Results
Doubles (Order of Finish: 1, 2, 3)                                        Singles (Order of Finish:1, 2, 4, 3, 6, 5 )
1.  (27)     Diego     Cubas/Ivan     Machado     (SC)     def.     Chase 1.  (48) Diego Cubas (SC) def. Philip Nemec (EU) 6-1, 6-3
Helpingstine/Alberto Rojas (EU) 8-6                                   2.  Pedro Campos (SC) def. Chase Helpingstine (EU) 6-3, 6-2
2.  Pedro  Campos/Ivan  Cressoni  (SC)  def.  Philip  Nemec/Cody          3.  Alexander Kostanov (SC) def. Eric Turner (EU) 6-3, 3-6, 6-0
MacDowell (EU) 8-6                                                    4.  Ivan Machado (SC) def. Alberto Rojas (EU) 6-3, 6-3
3.  Johannes   Pulsforth/Alexander   Kostanov   (SC)   def.   Clark       5.  Johannes Pulsfort (SC) def. Carlos Arboleda (EU) 6-4, 7-5
Howell/Eric Turner (EU) 8-3                                           6.  Ivan Cressoni (SC) def. Cody Stauffer-MacDowell (EU) 6-1,
6-4