Oct. 21, 2005

Chapel Hill, N.C. – The South Carolina men’s tennis players remaining in the main draws of the 2005 Intercollegiate Tennis Association’s Mideast Regional were all eliminated Friday on the campuses of the University of North Carolina and Duke University. Geraldo Knorr upset a ranked player and advanced to the third round along with sophomore Yevgeny Supeko, but both were knocked out by Top 50 opponents in the Round of 32.

In second round singles action in Chapel Hill, sophomore transfer Supeko (Texas A&M) struggled early with Maryland’s Andy Orban and dropped the first set 6-4. The rest of the match would be Supeko’s without question however, and he won the final two sets 6-0, 6-2 to advance to the third round, where he would face second-seeded Arnaud Lecloerec of Virginia Commonwealth. Supeko would take the nation’s eighth-ranked player to within two points of a stunning upset, but fell 8-6 in the second set tiebreaker, and then dropped the decisive third set 6-3.

Cuellar, who had a first round bye in the tournament, was matched up against Wake Forest’s Marius Adamski on Friday, also in Chapel Hill. Cuellar defeated Adamski in the quarterfinals at last weekend’s USC Fall Invitational, but was not able to repeat over the Deacons’ sophomore, going down 6-3, 6-2 in the second round.

Across town in on Duke’s campus in Durham, USC’s Geraldo Knorr faced 17th-seeded David North of Georgia Tech in second round action. The match was a close one throughout, with Knorr taking the first set a break up at 6-4, and then clinched the upset by taking the second-set tiebreaker a break up, 7-6(7-5). Knorr would then take on sixth-seeded Darrin Cohen of Virginia in the third round. The 45th-ranked senior from UVA was too much for Knorr however, and Cohen sent the Carolina senior out of the tournament with a 6-3, 6-3 win.

Carolina’s doubles team of Cuellar and Knorr suffered their first ever defeat as a team (10-1) in the draw’s third round, falling 8-5 to 40th-ranked and second-seeded Joey Atas and Jonathan Stokke of Duke.

The Gamecocks will participate in their final fall tournament when they return to Athens, Ga. for the 2005 Bulldog Scramble on the campus of the University of Georgia, Nov. 4-6. The tournament will feature an all-SEC lineup of teams, expected to include schools such as Georgia and last year’s defending co-conference champions, Ole Miss and Florida. USC competed in Athens earlier this year at the season-opening Southern Intercollegiate Championships.

USC Results
Singles:
Marius Adamski (WF) def. (9) Jaime Cuellar (SC) 6-3, 6-2 (2nd Round)

(25) Yevgeny Supeko (SC) def. Andy Orban (M) 4-6, 6-0, 6-2 (2nd Round)
(2) Arnaud Lecloerec (VCU) def. (25) Yevgeny Supeko (SC) (3rd Round)

Geraldo Knorr (SC) def. (17) David North (GT) 6-4, 7-6(5) (2nd Round)
(6) Darrin Cohen (VA) def. Geraldo Knorr (SC) 6-3, 6-3 (3rd Round)

Doubles:
(2) Atas/Stokke (D) def. Cuellar/Knorr (SC) 8-5 (3rd Round)