BURLINGTON, NC – 2009 Southern Conference Player of the Year Orcun Seyrek closed out the match with a straight-set win as UNC Greensboro earned its first Southern Conference Men's Tennis Tournament victory in seven years, defeating Georgia Southern, 4-2, in quarterfinal-round action at the Burlington Tennis Center on Friday afternoon.
Andrey Bubnov won his fifth straight match on Friday as UNCG
advanced past Georgia Southern, 4-2.
The Spartans (15-7) earned a semifinal-round date with top-seeded
Furman, which defeated Davidson, 4-0, on Friday.
Fourth-seeded UNCG jumped out to a 1-0 lead when Yaroslav Litus and Jacob Wright won the decisive doubles pro-set in a tiebreaker. The teams split the first two doubles matches before Litus and Wright defeated Gregory Bekkers and Philip Prins, 7-3, in a tiebreaker to win the match, 9-8.
Georgia Southern won the next two singles matches before Litus tied the score with a 6-4, 6-2 win over Justin Flynn. Andrey Bubnov, a second-team all-conference selection, gave UNCG a 3-2 lead with a win at No. 2 singles, a 6-3, 7-6 win over Jayraj Jadeja, including 7-5 in the tiebreaker. The win was Bubnov's fifth straight and made him 10-1 against SoCon competition this season.
Thursday, Seyrek became the first freshman in 19 years to claim Conference Player of the Year honors and also won Freshman of the Year. A day later, he clinched UNCG's first conference tournament win since 2002 with a 7-6, 6-3 win over Joris DeWeerdt at No. 1 singles. With the win, Seyrek is now 25-4 overall, including 20-2 this spring. The school record for wins in a season is 27 by Alex Lenhoff in 1996-97. Seyrek's 25 wins now ranks fourth on the school's single-season wins list.
UNCG will look to advance to a conference championship match for the first time since 1995 when it faces Furman on Semifinal Saturday. That match will be played at 2 pm at the Jimmy Powell Tennis Center on the Elon University campus.
AGATE
UNC Greensboro 4, Georgia Southern 2
Singles competition
1. Orcun Seyrek (UNCG) def. Joris De Weerdt (GSU) 7-6 (7-2), 6-3
2. Andrey Bubnov (UNCG) def. Jayraj Jadeja (GSU) 6-3, 7-6 (7-5)
3. Gregory Bekkers (GSU) def. Jacob Wright (UNCG) 6-1, 6-1
4. William John (UNCG) vs. Alain Garrido (GSU) 7-5, 3-6, 1-2, unfinished
5. Yaroslav Litus (UNCG) def. Justin Flynn (GSU) 6-4, 6-2
6. Edio Castanhel (GSU) def. Taylor Befus (UNCG) 6-3, 6-3
Doubles competition
1. Orcun Seyrek/Andrey Bubnov (UNCG) def. Matthew Sands/Joris De Weerdt (GSU) 8-5
2. Jayraj Jadeja/Justin Flynn (GSU) def. William John/Taylor Befus (UNCG) 8-4
3. Yaroslav Litus/Jacob Wright (UNCG) def. Gregory Bekkers/Philip Prins (GSU) 9-8 (7-3)
- UNCG -