NGU tennis continues struggle to find championship form
Posted by The Skyliner on February 18th, 2009Paul Conner
Staff Writer
No. 11-ranked Lander defeated the men’s tennis team 9-0 overall, 0-6 in singles and 0-3 in doubles on a breezy Valentine’s Day at the Greer Tennis Center. The women’s team fell 1-8 overall against the Bearcats, 0-6 in singles and 1-2 in doubles.
“It was a tough day, but we are playing a good team,” said Crusaders coach Mark Elliot. “Looking at how we played against them, we played well. I’m not too bent out of shape over the loss.”
Gabriel Altmayer and Timur Kamilou fell 3-8, and William Ho and Guilherme Vasques fell 2-8. Juan Carlos Aguilera and Jacob Rogers were defeated 1-8 in doubles. Salem Erni and Katherine Shaw, the Lady Crusaders’ top doubles pair, claimed the only North Greenville victory on the day, winning 8-2. Cherie and Cassie Curtis were defeated 0-8, and Courtney Lynn and Sarah Stanga fell 1-8.
In singles, Stephanie Tyrpak put up a tough fight but was defeated 6-3, 6-4. Erni also fell 6-3, 6-4, in her singles match. Altmayer battled but came up short 6-4, 7-5.
The Crusaders continued to make their way through a tough early-season schedule. North Greenville has competed against Shaw, the sixth-ranked team in the NCAA Division II Atlantic region, Gardner-Webb and Longwood, two Division I schools, and Lander, the 11th-ranked team in NCAA Division II.
“The rationale is to challenge ourselves by playing against tougher competition,” Elliot said. “It’s been good for our players, and hopefully they’ll continue to respond well.”
The schedule’s toughness does ease in the remaining two-thirds of the season. The Crusaders still must face three top-40 ranked teams in Limestone, Tusculum and Mars Hill. North Greenville must travel only once in the next month, and five of the seven home games at Greer Tennis Center are against unranked opponents.
“It will get easier in the next couple of months here,” Elliot said.
On Feb. 13, the visiting men’s team (1-5) shutout Spartanburg Methodist 9-0 for their first win of the season. Kamilou defeated the Pioneers’ number one Christian Ranguelov 6-3 in the third.
Altmayer, Rogers, Vasques, Aguilera and William Ho also recorded singles victories to lead the Crusaders.
The women’s team (2-2) fell 1-8 at Spartanburg Methodist, with Cherie Curtis picking up North Greenville’s only win of the day.
The men’s and women’s teams will both travel to Greensboro College (N.C.) on Saturday before hosting Tusculum on Feb. 28.