CHATTANOOGA – The No. 16 University of North Georgia men's golf team lost its second match in a row in the Scenic City College Tennis Spring Break Showcase to No. 17 Drury Monday. Despite winning the double point, the Nighthawks fell 4-3 overall after dropping four of the six singles matches.
Senior Joaquin Benoit and junior Robin Eldin combined to win the #1 doubles match in an easy 6-1 victory. The #3 doubles match belonged to the Panthers as junior Alejandro Esquivel and freshman Lukas Rieber took down sophomore Eliseo Alcalde and senior Christopher Cahour 6-3.
That meant the lone doubles point of the match would be awarded in the #2 doubles battle. Between Nighthawk freshman Marcos Castellanos and senior Giulio Sassi and Drury sophomore Chuy Gonzalez and junior Yaroslav Sharyy, it was no easy feat for either pair to come out with a win.
After a back and forth fight, the two duos were locked at 6-6, forcing the decisive doubles match to a tiebreaker set. Castellanos and Sassi were able to pull out the win in a thrilling 8-6 victory, taking their match 7-6 and securing the doubles point for head coach Kent Norsworthy's team.
However, things went awry for UNG in the singles portion of the competition. Particularly in the first four singles matches.
The Nighthawks dropped three of the top four singles matches as Drury had taken control of the overall match score at 3-2.
In all singles matches #1 through #4, the match was pushed to a third set 10-point tiebreaker. Benoit lost his to Sharyy, 2-6, 6-4, 0-1 (10-7). Sassi went down 3-6, 6-2, 0-1 (10-6) to senior Sylvain Garin-Michaud.
Eldin fell to Panther fifth year Marlon Wilken in a match that went to a tiebreaker twice. Eldin lost his first set 6-7 after dropping the tiebreaker in a very close 7-5 battle. He rebounded and won the next set 7-5. In the decisive third set, Eldin again had the win in his grasp but ultimately lost the set 10-7.
Drury needed just one more singles win to clinch the match. It got it from Gonzalez as he defeated Castellanos 6-2, 6-4.
UNG was able to grab singles wins from Cahour and Alcalde, but couldn't find the clutch points it needed in numerous tiebreakers to edge past the Panthers.
The team will now face Catawba tomorrow (Mar. 12) at the Champions Club Tennis Complex at Rivermont Park for its final match in the Scenic City Showcase. First serve is set for 11 a.m. against the Indians.
