April 1, 2011

UNCG (11-4, 4-1 SoCon) vs. Georgia Southern (9-7, 2-2 SoCon), April 2, 11 a.m., UNCG Tennis Courts
UNCG vs. The Citadel (3-16, 0-5 SoCon), April 3, 12 p.m., UNCG Tennis Courts

Storylines

• After having its last two matches postponed by rain, UNCG's men's tennis team will return to action this weekend when it hosts Georgia Southern on Saturday and The Citadel on Sunday for a pair of Southern Conference contests at the UNCG Tennis Courts.

• UNCG had been slated to face Furman on March 27 and Gardner-Webb on Thursday, but both matches were washed out by rain and will be rescheduled at a later date.

• The Spartans saw their seven-match winning streak come to an end on March 25, falling at Appalachian State, 6-1. The contest was much closer than the final score indicated, as the Mountaineers won three of the singles matches in three sets and had another go to tiebreakers in both sets. Even the doubles point could have gone either way, as two of the matches finished with 9-7 scores. Jacob Wright picked up UNCG's lone singles win on the day at No. 6 when his opponent retired in the third set, while Wright and Yaroslav Litus grabbed UNCG's only doubles win at No. 2.

• UNCG has won three straight against Georgia Southern. UNCG downed the Eagles 4-3 in the regular season in each of the last two years and picked up a 4-2 win over GSU in the 2009 SoCon Championship.

• UNCG junior Orcun Seyrek has twice been named the SoCon Player of the Week this season, taking the award on March 9 and again on March 22.

• The bottom of the Spartans' singles lineup has been dominant this season, as UNCG is 12-3 at No. 6 and 11-4 at No. 5 on the season. UNCG is 9-6 at Nos. 1, 2 and 4.

• A pair of true freshmen lead UNCG in singles wins on the year. Ahmet Sarioglu and Chanon Varapongsittikul are both 11-4 in dual play and 18-8 overall on the season. Zach Reece, a redshirt freshman, is 8-3 on the season in dual play and 16-7 overall on the year.

• Seyrek, UNCG's No. 1 singles player, is 9-6 in duals and 17-8 overall. Litus is 8-7 in duals and 14-10 overall, while Timion Meijs is 13-9 overall on the season and 9-6 in dual action, including a SoCon-best 4-1 mark in league play at No. 2. Wright is 4-6 overall and 1-3 in dual action.

• In doubles play, Litus and Jacob Wright are 13-6 overall and 8-5 in duals. Meijs and Seyrek sport a 4-4 mark together, while Sarioglu and Varapongsittikul are 6-4.

• Georgia Southern dropped a 5-2 contest to Samford on Tuesday to fall to 2-2 in league play. The contest started on Sunday but was suspended by rain with the Bulldogs leading 3-1. The teams returned Tuesday to wrap up the match, but the Eagles couldn't put together a comeback. GSU's Juan Melian Puigventos grabbed a 6-4, 6-4 win at No. 1 over Carson Kadi – one of just two SoCon opponents to beat Seyrek this season – while Matthijs Verdam picked up a 6-3, 3-6, 6-3 win over Zac Dunkle at No. 2. The duo also grabbed an 8-4 win at No. 1 doubles.

• Puigventos is a SoCon-best 15-1 at No. 1 on the season and has won nine straight matches. Verdam is also among the league leaders at his flight, as he is 7-1 at No. 2 and 12-4 overall. Those two are carrying the load for the Eagles, as Mark Paetz, who is 3-0 at No. 6, is the only other player on the roster with a winning record in singles play.

• Puigventos and Verdam are 9-4 at No. 1 doubles for the Eagles. Alain Garrido and Marco Osorio also have a winning ledger at 6-5, mostly at No. 2.

• UNCG and GSU have two common opponents so far this season. The Spartans topped Wofford and Samford, while the Eagles lost to both teams.

• The Citadel is just 3-16 on the season, with none of those wins coming against Division I competition. The Bulldogs grabbed a 6-1 win over Division III Case Western Reserve on March 7, then beat Division II opponents Johnson C. Smith (9-0) and Lenoir-Rhyne (7-0) this week. The back-to-back wins over the Golden Bulls and the Bears snapped a nine-match losing streak for The Citadel in which no score was closer than 5-2. Two of The Citadel's losses have come to ranked teams this season, with Clemson and Memphis, both ranked 53^rd at the time, topping the Bulldogs.

• The Bulldogs are 0-5 in SoCon play thus far, having lost to Appalachian State, Wofford, Chattanooga, Samford and Georgia Southern.

• UNCG has won three of its last four against The Citadel. The Spartans have topped the Bulldogs 5-2 in each of the last two seasons.

• The Citadel, which had matches at Charlotte and Winston-Salem State rained out this week, will continue its North Carolina swing when it visits Elon on Saturday at 1 p.m. before facing the Spartans on Sunday. The Bulldogs started their Spring Break week at Johnson C. Smith and Lenoir-Rhyne.

• Last time out, The Citadel took a 7-0 win over Lenoir-Rhyne in Hickory, N.C., on Tuesday. The Bulldogs swept through doubles play, with James Atkinson and Dillon Berkabile coasting to an 8-0 win at No. 2, then swept through singles play, all in straight sets. Berkabile wasn't challenged all day, as he won 6-0, 6-0 at No. 3 singles.

• David Orces is having a solid season at No. 1 singles for the Bulldogs, as he is 13-6 so far. Orces is the only player on the roster with a winning record. Atkinson is 7-12 overall and has played everywhere from Nos. 2-5.

• In doubles play, Derek Dickey and Orces lead the team with five wins at 5-11. The duo is 4-9 at No. 1. Atkinson and Berkabile are 4-8 together with a 3-1 ledger at No. 2.

• The Citadel participated in the UNCG Fall Invitational in September, with UNCG's Reece topping Atkinson 4-6, 6-1, 1-0 (10-5).

• UNCG and The Citadel have both faced App State, Wofford, Chattanooga and Samford so far. Both teams lost to the Mountaineers, while UNCG beat the other three and The Citadel lost to the other three.

- UNCG -