ASHEVILLE, N.C. – Zachary Sprouse’s three-set win at #5 singles allowed #7 Presbyterian College to upset second-seeded UNC Asheville 4-3 in the quarterfinals of the Big South Conference Tennis Championships Thursday afternoon and evening at the Asheville Racquet Club Downtown.
Sprouse rallied to win his match, 4-6, 7-6, 6-1 over Ryan Matthews to send PC into the semifinals for the first time in school history.
The victory by the seventh-seeded Blue Hose marks the first time a #7 seed has beaten a #2 seed in the tournament. PC (12-15) moves to the semifinals of the tournament on Friday against the winner of the Coastal Carolina-Liberty match this is going on right now.
Presbyterian College stunned the Bulldogs (13-11) early when the Blue Hose took the doubles point. PC got wins at #1 and #2 doubles. The team of Rafael Berghaus and Grayson Mills won, 8-5 and #2 team of Andrew Brigham and William O’Connell, 8-5. The Brigham-O’Connell team downed Adrien Langeard and Thomas Rees. It was the first league loss of the year for Langeard and Rees who entered the tournament with a 10-game winning streak.
In singles, Asheville won at #2 from Matt Waissen to tie the match at 1-1. Waissen won handily over Berghaus, 6-2, 6-1.
But PC regained the momentum with two straight singles wins from William O’Connell at #3 and Gonzalo Asis at #6 to lead 3-1.
The Bulldogs battled back to tie the match at 3-3 with wins from Langeard at #1 and Rees rallied for a three-set win at #4.
Sprouse lost the first set to Ryan Matthews 6-4. He seemed to have control of the second set and sprinted to a 5-3 lead only to see Matthews roar back and take the lead 6-5.
But Sprouse was able to break Matthews serve to send the second set into a tie-breaker at 6-6. The two players exchanged points at 4-4 before Sprouse won the final three points to win the tie-breaker 7-4.
In the third set, the senior from PC won the first three games and last three games to give the Blue Hose its first ever Big South Tournament win.
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Singles competition |
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1. LANGEARD, Adrien (ASH) def. MILLS, Grayson (PCM) 7-5, 6-3 |
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2. WAISSEN, Matt (ASH) def. BERGHAUS, Rafael (PCM) 6-2, 6-1 |
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3. O'CONNELL, William (PCM) def. BROBECK, Jonas (ASH) 6-1, 6-3 |
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4. REES, Thomas (ASH) def. BRIGHAM, Andrew (PCM) 3-6, 7-6 (7-5), 6-4 |
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5. SPROUSE, Zachary (PCM) def. MATTHEWS, Ryan (ASH) 4-6, 7-6 (7-4), 6-1 |
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6. ASIS, Gonzalo (PCM) def. SCHUBEL, John (ASH) 6-4, 6-3 |
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Doubles competition |
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1. BERGHAUS, Rafael/MILLS, Grayson (PCM) def. BROBECK, Jonas/WAISSEN, Matt (ASH) 8-5 |
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2. BRIGHAM, Andrew/O'CONNELL, William (PCM) def. LANGEARD, Adrien/REES, Thomas (ASH) 8-5 |
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3. SCHUBEL, John/CONATY, Pete (ASH) def. CROCKER, Nathan/SNEAD, Edward (PCM) 9-7 |
