Cougars Shutout Sixth-Ranked Flagler At Home
By CSU Sports Information
COLUMBUS - In a battle of two of the top six teams in the entire nation, the third-ranked Columbus State University men's tennis team came away with a 7-0 shutout over the Flagler Saints on Saturday. The match took place at the Walden Tennis Center.
The Cougars went three-for-three in doubles play but two of the matches came down to the very end. 30th-ranked Arnold Kokulewski and Fabien Asdrubal squeaked out a 7-6 win at third doubles while 23rd-ranked KP Pannu and Matei Avram won 7-5 at second doubles. The top-ranked doubles team in the land Zach Whaanga and Alvaro Regalado cruised past their opponent 6-2 to give the Cougars the doubles point.
After a strong start, CSU kept it going heading into singles play with three of their individuals coming away with straight set wins.
Top-ranked singles player Pannu took down the 75th-ranked player in the nation in straight sets, 6-4, 6-3 at the first position. Right next to him it was Whaanga who bullied his way to a 6-0, 6-1 outcome at the second spot. In fourth singles, 39th-ranked Regalado picked up the other straight set win, taking down the 57th-ranked player 6-2, 6-3.
The other three singles courts went to a third set with Asdrubal coming away with the 6-3, 5-7, 10-5 triumph in his tiebreaker. Avram went to a tiebreaker in fifth singles as well picking up a 5-7, 7-6, 10-4 victory.
In the final singles court it was 61st-ranked Tomasso Schold who fell behind early but came back to win 3-6, 6-2, 6-3.
The Cougars have picked up back to back top-ten victories, and now have four of them notched on their belts this season.
Columbus State will stay in town and take on conference opponent USC Aiken Sunday, March 24. The match is scheduled to start at 12:00 p.m. at the Walden Tennis Center.