Oct. 17, 2009

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. – South Carolina men’s tennis battled through the second day of singles at the ITA/Wilson Carolinas Regional at Cone-Kenfield Tennis Center Saturday and found senior Diego Cubas the lone Gamecock remaining in the field at the end of the day’s play. Sophomore Ivan Machado notched a pair of singles wins before stumbling in the Round of 32, while Cubas’ pair of straight-set victories has him in the Round of 16.

Ranked No. 28 in the nation and drawing the second seed in the tournament, Cubas enjoyed a first-round bye that kept him off the singles court on Friday. He opened Saturday with a decisive 6-2, 6-4 win over Elon’s Eric Turner and overcame slightly more resistance from Coastal Carolina’s Matt Gordon in a 6-2, 7-5 third-round victory. Cubas will take on Davy Sum of Campbell at 11 a.m. Sunday in the Round of 16.

Matching his doubles victories from Friday, Machado also scored a 6-2, 6-1 win over Andrew Brigham of Presbyterian in the first round of singles. The Gamecock sophomore fought past Duke’s Aaron Carpenter for a 6-4, 3-6, 6-3 second-round win before succumbing to North Carolina’s Brennan Boyajian 3-6, 1-6.

Senior David Wolff scored a three-set win over Furman’s Chris Motes in Friday’s first-round action (6-3, 3-6, 6-0) but could not continue the momentum on Saturday, bowing out of the tournament with a 1-6, 0-6 loss to North Carolina’s Jose Hernandez. South Carolina freshman Harry Menzies also fought for a first-round win, topping 6-3, 1-6, 6-4 win over Larbi Lamzouri of Campbell then fell to Duke’s David Holland 4-6, 2-6 on Saturday.

Junior Chris Sheehan and senior Ivan Cressoni suffered first-round losses Friday. Sheehan was upended by Appalachian State’s Alain Hamblet 1-6, 2-6, while Cressoni could not recover from a first-set tie-breaker loss against North Carolina’s Luke Mojica, dropping the match 6-7 (2), 0-6.

Doubles results were not available on the University of North Carolina website as of late Saturday night.

Results

Singles
(28) Diego Cubas (SC) def. Eric Turner (Elon) 6-2, 6-4
(28) Cubas (SC) def. Matt Gordon (Coastal) 6-2, 7-5

Ivan Machado (SC) def. Andrew Brigham (Presb) 6-2, 6-1
Machado (SC) def. Aaron Carpenter (Duke) 6-4, 3-6, 6-3
Brennan Boyajian (NC) def. Machado (SC) 6-3, 6-1

Harry Menzies (SC) def. Larbi Lamzouri (Camp) 6-3, 1-6, 6-4
David Holland (Duke) def. Menzies (SC) 4-6, 2-6

David Wolff (SC) def. Chris Motes (Fur) 6-3, 3-6, 6-0
Jose Hernandez (NC) def. Wolff (SC) 6-1, 6-0

Luke Mojica (NC) def. Ivan Cressoni (SC) 7-6 (2), 6-0

Alain Hamblet (App. St.) def. Chris Sheehan (SC) 6-1, 6-2