COLUMBUS, Ga. | The No. 30 University of North Georgia men's tennis team came within three points of a monumental upset on Saturday afternoon at Columbus State, eventually falling to the No. 6 Cougars, 5-4, in a decisive third-set match. The No. 8 CSU women completed the Peach Belt Conference sweep with at 9-0 win over the North Georgia women at CSU's Mary V. Blackmon Tennis Center.
In the men's match, the Nighthawks got off to a quick start winning two of the three doubles matches.
Matheus Guida and
Mateus Camasmie defeated Marco Almorin and Adi Malicbegovic, 9-7, at No. 1 doubles. The second doubles team of
Philipp Mueller and
Julian Schoeller edged Benedikt Wilde and Maciej Kierkus, 9-7, to give North Georgia the 2-1 lead heading into singles.
After the Cougars posted straight set wins in the first two singles lines, North Georgia's
Alexander Reinauer and Schoeller earned singles wins at fourth and fifth singles respectively. Reinauer downed Almorin, 7-6 (5), 7-6 (3) while Schoeller defeated Jorge Vargas, 6-2, 7-5.
With the score tied at four apiece following a CSU win at sixth singles, the match came down to the No. 3 singles line where UNG's Camasmie battled Wilde to a third set. With Camasmie holding a 4-1 third set lead, Wilde fought back to force a decisive tie-breaker where he raced out to a 5-0 lead, only to see Camasmie battle back to trail 5-4. Wilde was eventually able to secure the final two points and hold off the Nighthawks' bid at a top-10 upset.
In the women's match, North Georgia fought hard at third doubles where
Mathilde Baartvedt and
Nela Handac fell 8-5 to Elena Preadca and Olivera Tadijin.
The Nighthawks continued to show their fight, taking three of the six singles matches to a third set. At No. 2 singles,
Rita Kaldawi dropped a 3-6, 6-1, 1-0 (6) decision to Beatriz Leon. Baartvedt battled Tadijin before falling 3-6, 6-4, 1-0 (8) while
Simone Krog also won her first set before falling 3-6, 6-2, 1-0 (7).
Tomorrow's match at Georgia Southwestern has been postponed due to expected rainy weather and will be rescheduled for a later date and Wednesday's (Mar. 4) non-conference road trip to Anderson (S.C.) has been canceled. North Georgia will return to action on Saturday (Mar. 7) with the home opener against Georgia Regents on Saturday, March 7 at the UNG Tennis Complex at Yahoola Creek Park. Match time is set for 1:00 p.m.
