Statesboro, Ga. - The Georgia State men's tennis team (10-5) defeated Georgia Southern (4-11) on the road, 5-2, on Wednesday afternoon. The 10th victory for the Panthers also earned head coach Chase Hodges his 200th career victory overall.
Georgia State started the match by winning two of the three doubles matches to claim the doubles point. The team of Calvin Kemp/Juan Pablo Gutierrez clinched the point by winning, 9-7, against Gregory Bekkers/Edio Castanhel. Kemp was returning for the first time since an injury sustained in the Georgia Tech match early this season. The Panthers improve to 10-1 this season when they win the doubles point.
In singles play freshman Lucas Santana won in straight sets to win his four straight match and improve to 10-3 overall on the season. Junior Juan Pablo Gutierrez followed suit winning in straight sets at No. 4 singles to give the Panthers an early 3-0 advantage. Freshman Victor Valente came up with the clinching point after winning in straight sets at No. 2 singles against Alain Garrido, 6-4, 6-2.
"This was a nice road victory for us. We have won 3 straight and my guys are getting tougher. I was very impressed with the play of Gutierrez, Santana, and Valente. All three played very well today. It was nice to see Calvin get back into action today in doubles," said head coach Chase Hodges.
The Panthers almost had the complete sweep of the Eagles but sophomore Jackson Moore and Junior Trenton Spinks both lost in three set tiebreakers. Moore was playing at No. 1 singles and lost the first set before winning the second to even the match. Moore lost the third set tiebreaker, 12-10. Spinks on the other hand won his first set before dropping the second to send the match into the third set tiebreaker. In the tiebreaker, Spinks lost 10-5 at No. 3 singles.
Senior Henri Mangin won in straight sets at No. 5 singles earning his third-straight victory. Mangin improved to 10-3 overall on the season.
Head coach Chase Hodges improves to 10-5 on the season and is very humble of his accomplishments this season. "200 wins just means that I'm getting old. I've been fortunate to coach some outstanding student-athletes. Most importantly, we got our 10th win of the season today and the team is playing with confidence," said Hodges.
Georgia State returns to action on Friday to open up conference play against Drexel at the Towson Round Robin event in Towson, Md.
Georgia State 5, Georgia Southern 2
Records: Georgia State 10-5, Georgia Southern 4-11
Doubles:
1. Jayraj Jadeja/Justin Flynn (GS) d. Jackson Moore/Trenton Spinks (GSU) 9-7
2. Victor Valente/Henri Mangin (GSU) d. Alain Garrido/Matthijs Verdam (GS) 8-4
3. Calvin Kemp/Juan Pablo Gutierrez (GSU) d. Gregory Bekkers/Edio Castanhel (GS) 9-7*
Order of finish: 2, 3, 1
*Clinched the doubles point
Singles:
1. Jayraj Jadeja (GS) d. Jackson Moore (GST) 6-4, 4-6, 1-0(10)
2. Victor Valente (GSU) d. Alain Garrido (GSU) 6-4, 6-2 *
3. Mattijs Verdam (GS) d. Trenton Spinks (GSU) 4-6, 6-4, 1-0 (5)
4. Juan Pablo Gutierrez (GSU) d. Gregory Bekkers (GS) 6-4, 6-1
5. Henri Mangin (GSU) d. Justin Flynn (GS) 6-4, 6-4
6. Lucas Santana (GSU) d. Edio Castanhel (GS) 6-1, 6-2
Order of finish: 6, 4, 2, 1, 3, 5
*Clinched the match
