Oct. 14, 2010

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. – South Carolina men’s tennis closed out its doubles play in the first day of the ITA Carolina Regional Thursday afternoon. Jake Bowling and Henry Walker advanced to the second round of play, but could not extend their run into the second day of the event.

With the tournament spread across two sites at University of North Carolina and Duke, it took the Gamecocks a little while to get going. Alexander Kostanov and Chris Sheehan dropped their first-round match to NC State’s Dave Thomson and Sean Weber 8-4 in the first match of the day. Among the eight teams seeded between nine and 16, the Gamecock duo of Ivan Machado and Harry Menzies fought hard against Timion Meijs and Chanon Varaponsittikul of UNC Greensboro, but fell by a single service break, 8-6.

The bright spot came in the second group of matches to start as Bowling and Walker battled past Charlotte’s Morritz Bernhoester and Charly Lecamp 8-5 in first-round action. The pair quickly turned to its second-round opponent from Wake Forest, David Hopkins and Zach Leslie, who were fresh off their first-round upset of a seeded tandem from Winthrop. The Demon Deacons rode that momentum to an 8-2 win in the Round of 32.

Singles play begins Friday in the Round of 128. Machado is seeded 14th in the tournament, earning a first-round bye and, as a result, a day off Friday. Menzies will be the first Gamecock on court as he faces Julian Sullivan of NC State at 8:30 a.m. Bowling and Kostanov are set to play at 11 a.m. against Coastal Carolina’s Leo Christofides and NC State’s Rafael Perez, respectively. Walker kicks off the afternoon time slots at 1 p.m. against Michael Pereira of UNC Wilmington, and Sheehan will be the last Gamecock to take the courts at 2:30 p.m. against NC State’s Akash Gujarati.

Results

Round of 64
Dave Thomson/Sean Weber (NCSU) def. Alexander Kostanov/Chris Sheehan (SC) 8-4
Jake Bowling/Henry Walker (SC) def. Morritz Bernhoester/ Charly Lecamp (CHA) 8-5
Timion Meijs/Chanon Varaponsittikul (UNCG) def. Ivan Machado/Harry Menzies (SC) 8-6

Round of 32
David Hopkins/Zach Leslie (WF) def. Jake Bowling/Henry Walker 8-2