CHARLESTON, S.C.- The UNCG men's tennis team secured the No. 3 seed in next week's Southern Conference tournament with a sweep of The Citadel Friday afternoon.
With the win, the Spartans improve to 13-6 overall and 6-2 in the SoCon.
The Spartans went up 1-0 early after sweeping the doubles matches. Ahmet Sarioglu (Ankera, Turkey/METU Development Foundation) and James Dougherty (Melbourne, Australia) defeated Elliott Sperr and Dillon Berkabile at No. 1 doubles 8-5. At No. 2 doubles, Daniel Mack (Lakeland, Fla./Lakeland) and Cameron Smith (Jamestown, N.C./Ragsdale) took down Peter Bleach and Jackson Pride 8-4. An 8-1 win at No. 3 doubles by Gaston Murray (Lake Worth, Fla./Park Vista) and Jimmy Roueche (Greensboro, N.C./Grimsley) over Oliver Dedding and Connor Grady secured the sweep for UNCG.
At No. 4 singles, Mack dominated Pride 6-0, 6-1 to give UNCG a 2-0 advantage.
Smith beat Dedding 6-2, 6-1 at No. 5 singles. Roueche defeated Grady 6-4, 6-2 at No. 6 singles.
Sarioglu earned UNCG another point with a 6-1, 7-5 win over Sperr at No. 1 singles.
At No. 2 singles, Dougherty defeated Berkabile 6-3, 7-6 (7-3). Dougherty won the second set tiebreaker 7-3 to earn the victory.
The No. 3 singles set was the lone match to require three sets. Murray took set one 6-2, but Bleach bounced back to take set two 6-3. Murray completed the sweep for the Spartans with a 6-3 set three win.
UNCG's first match of the tournament will take place Thursday, April 17 at 10:30 a.m. against the No. 6 seed.
-UNCG-
