March 28, 2010
STARKVILLE, Miss. – No. 48 South Carolina men’s tennis scored its second-straight win over a higher-ranked team as the Gamecocks (9-7, 1-5 SEC) scored a 4-2 win over No. 43 Mississippi State at A.J. Pitts Tennis Centre. After sweeping the three doubles matches, South Carolina senior Pedro Campos delivered the match-clinching point with a three-set win in the No. 2 singles position.
The Gamecocks’ top doubles tandem of Campos and fellow senior Diego Cubas continued its bid to earn a spot in the national rankings this week, scoring an 8-5 win over No. 55 George Coupland and Artem Ilyushin. The win improved their record to 4-1 against nationally ranked opponents. Junior Johannes Pulsfort and freshman Alexander Kostanov pushed their No. 3 match against Louis Cant and Chris Doerr to a tiebreaker, which the Gamecock duo won for a 9-8 (3) point-clinching victory.
As the match turned to singles play, Cubas wasted little time in doubling the Gamecocks’ lead in the match. The nation’s No. 73 singles player quickly dismissed No. 52 Louis Cant 6-0, 6-4. Ilyushin got the Bulldogs on the board with a straight-set win over Ivan Cressoni in the No. 3 singles match, and Antonio Lastre knotted the match at 2-2 with a win in the No. 4 spot.
After dropping his first set against Doerr in the No. 6 matchup, Pulsfort found his stroke and dominated his opponent over the next two sets to score a 4-6, 6-0, 6-1 win. That victory left the match up to the Nos. 2 and 5 contests, both of which would go to three sets. In the No. 2 matchup, Campos won the first set over No. 101 Coupland 6-3, but stumbled in the second, dropping the set 6-2. As the third set wore on, Campos managed to hold onto one more service break than Coupland for a 6-4 win to deliver the team victory and extend his singles win streak to 12.
The Gamecocks face two more road SEC contests before returning to the friendly confines of Maxcy Gregg Tennis Center. South Carolina travels to No. 9 Kentucky for an Apr. 2 match and No. 23 Vanderbilt for an Apr. 4 contest.
Results
Doubles (Order of Finish: 1, 3, 2)
1. Diego Cubas/Pedro Campos (SC) def. (55) George Coupland/Artem Ilyushin (MSU) 8-5
2. Ivan Cressoni/Ivan Machado (SC) def. Antonio Lastre/Daniel Sanchez (MSU) 8-5
3. Johannes Pulsfort/Alexander Kostanov (SC) def. Louis Cant/Chris Doerr (MSU 9-8 (3)
Singles (Order of Finish: 1, 3, 4, 6, 2)
1. (73) Diego Cubas (SC) def. (52) Louis Cant (MSU) 6-0, 6-4
2. (125) Pedro Campos (SC) def. (101) George Coupland (MSU) 6-3, 2-6, 6-4
3. Artem Ilyushin (MSU) def. Ivan Cressoni (SC) 6-3, 6-4
4. Antonio Lastre (MSU) def. Alexander Kostanov (SC) 6-4, 6-3
5. Ivan Machado (SC) vs. Daniel Sanchez (MSU) 7-6 (4), 4-6, 1-3 DNF
6. Johannes Pulsfort (SC) def. Chris Doerr (MSU) 4-6, 6-0, 6-1
