Men’s Tennis The Troy men's tennis team saw its season come to an end last Thursday in the first round of the Sun Belt Championships, falling to Georgia State, 4-0, at Bourgeois Hall on Louisiana-Lafayette's campus. Georgia State, the three seed and eventual Sun Belt Champions, defeated Troy (8-17) for the second time in six days. The Trojans also fell to the Panthers on Saturday in regular season finale for both teams. Despite a 4-0 score, Thursday's match was much closer than that as Troy, the sixth seed, led in all three singles matches that didn't finish and in the one doubles match that didn't finish. In doubles play, Georgia State (13-10) won at second and third doubles to clinch the point. Troy's Sami Ghorbel and Mansingh Athare were leading over GSU's nationally-ranked pair of No.46 Victor Valente and Lucas Santa Ana, 6-2. In singles play, the Panthers won at first, third and fourth singles to clinch the match, with Troy leading in all three of the remaining matches. Ghorbel was up 6-3, 3-3 at second singles for Troy while Andre Stabile was up 6-2, 2-2 at fifth singles and Patrick Eichler was up 5-4 in the first set at sixth singles. Women’s Tennis The Troy women's tennis team dropped a heartbreaking, 4-3, decision to Middle Tennessee in the quarterfinals of the Sun Belt Championships last Friday. Troy, the third seed, led 3-1 before dropping a trio of three-set matches in the loss. Troy (17-6) just defeated Middle Tennessee, 6-1, in regular season finale, but couldn't close out the sixth-seeded Blue Raiders. After cruising through the doubles point, and winning two straight-set singles matches, the Trojans led 3-1 and needed one point to close out the match. With three matches in third sets, Middle Tennessee (12-11) managed to win all three on their way to the upset win. Troy won the first set in all of those three matches, but couldn't hold on at first, fourth and fifth singles. Troy seemed in control early with an easy doubles point win. Karoline Grymel and Lyubov Dorofeeva won at first doubles and Hannah Toro and Rosaura Ramirez-Vega won at second doubles to secure the opening point, leading into a competitive singles competition. Middle Tennessee, the sixth seed, got the first win as Toro fell at second singles to even the score at 1-1. However, the Trojans responded with straight set wins at sixth and third singles. Ramirez-Vega won at sixth singles, 6-3, 6-0, while Dorofeeva won at third singles, 6-1, 6-4, to give the Trojans a 3-1 lead. The Blue Raiders pulled even again at 3-3 with three-set wins at first and fourth singles to force the deciding match at fifth singles that Middle Tennessee went on to win, 6-7, 6-3, 6-4.
Staff Writer
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