Oct. 16, 2009

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. – South Carolina senior Diego Cubas and sophomore Ivan Machado advanced to the doubles quarterfinals at the ITA/Wilson Carolinas Regional at Cone-Kenfield Tennis Center in Chapel Hill, N.C. The No. 9 doubles team in the nation drew a first round bye as the event’s top seed then battled through the second round before upending a tandem from the host University of North Carolina to earn a berth in the quarterfinals.

Cubas and Machado had to fight off a feisty duo from College of Charleston in the second round as Lukas Koncilia and Kyle Parker forced the Gamecocks’ top tandem to a tie-breaker before falling 8-9 (6). In the third round, Andrew Crone and Jose Hernandez looked to upend Cubas and Machado, but were no match for the experienced team, which claimed an 8-6 victory.

In other doubles matches. Ivan Cressoni and Chris Sheehan opened their tournament with an 8-3 win over North Carolina’s Zach Hunter and Alex Rafiee. After advancing to the third round due to their opponents’ withdrawal in round two, Cressoni and Sheehan suffered an 8-3 loss to Clemson’s Carlos Alvarez and Derek DiFazio.

Singles results were not available on the University of North Carolina website as of late Friday night. Both singles and doubles play in the tournament continues on Saturday.

Results

Doubles
(9) Diego Cubas/Ivan Machado (SC) def. Lukas Koncilia/Kyle Parker (CofC) 9-8 (6)
(9) Cubas/Machado (SC) def. Andrew Crone/Jose Hernandez (NC) 8-6

Ivan Cressoni/Chris Sheehan (SC) def. Zach Hunter/Alex Rafiee (NC) 8-3
Cressoni/Sheehan (SC) def. Chase Helpingstine/Philip Nemec (Elon) W/D
Carlos Alvarez/Derek DiFazio (Clemson) def. Cressoni/Sheehan (SC) 8-3

Josep Baro/Davy Sum (Campbell) def. Harry Menzies/David Wolff (SC) 8-6