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| Tennis bows out of 2004 SoCon tourney
in first, second rounds |
by Brad Norman
Senior Staff Writer
Both the men and women’s tennis teams had an early exit from
the 2004 Southern Conference Championships, with the women bowing
out in the first round and the men in the second.
No. 7 seed University of North Carolina at Greensboro defeated the
10th seeded ASU women’s team April 22.
ASU finished the year at 8-14 overall, including an abysmal 1-10
conference record.
The Spartans claimed the doubles point before the singles matches
started, giving them an early 1-0 advantage.
No. 1 player Becky Gordon fell to Lindsey Peel early, and the rest
of ASU’s top players followed suit.
Anja Gugger won the first set against Carlin Kannan, but lost the
next two sets, 7-6, 6-0.
The Mountaineers claimed two points when Lyndsey Free and Salem
Kirven both won in straight sets. Although the two points may have
been a moral victory, it did nothing in terms of the final results
as the Mountaineers still lost 4-2.
Appalachian will return six of its eight players next season. Seniors
Elena Berger and Tammy Beaulieu will depart, but ASU’s top
two players (Gordon and Gugger) have three years of eligibility
left.
ASU’s men’s team fared better, scoring a mini-upset
in the first round before being bounced by the top seeded Bucs of
East Tennessee State University.
The Mountaineers (seeded fifth) upended The Citadel Bulldogs (seeded
fourth), 4-2.
Appalachian won five of the final six singles matches to claim the
first round victory.
Dimitar Dimitrov, Ben Shuster, Andrew Waters, Jason Nius and Andrew
Taylor all won in straight sets to seal the victory.
In the semi-finals, the Bucs were just too dominant for the Mountaineers
and ASU was swept, 4-0.
The Bucs were the top seed entering the tournament (19-5 overall)
and played near-flawless tennis.
ETSU claimed the doubles point early when the duos of Oscar Posada
and Alejandro Salazar, and Fernando Fiuri and Felix Insaurralde
won their set, 8-3.
Alex Probst, Shuster and Taylor were all defeated in singles play,
putting the Bucs up 4-0 and guaranteeing them the 4-0 victory.
The men’s team resembles the women’s in terms of players
coming back.
Shuster and Jacob Stapleton will graduate, but eight other players
return.
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