This past weekend, the Tech men’s tennis team traveled to Athens to participate in the 46th annual Southern Intercollegiate Championships at the Dan Magill Tennis Complex at the University of Georgia. The team took a squad of five to compete: freshman Carlos Benito from Madrid, Spain; freshman Cole Fiegel from Alachua, Fla.; sophomore Casey Kay from Atlanta, Ga.; sophomore Anish Sharma from Alpharetta, Ga. and junior Colin Edwards from Valrico, Fla.
On the first day of play, four of Tech’s five players advanced in their first singles matches.
Benito, in his Yellow Jacket debut, defeated Nathan Debut of Stetson 6-4, 6-3 in Division I. Fiegel, also in his Yellow Jacket debut, defeated Robert Dubuque of Florida Atlantic University 6-0, 1-6, 6-2 in Division II. Kay, in yet another Jackets debut, defeated Ricardo Pabon of East Tennessee University 6-3, 3-6, 6-4 in Division II. Sharma defeated Franco Echenique of Barry College 7-6, 6-4 in Division II, and Edwards was defeated by Egon Samaai of Liberty 4-6, 2-6 in Division III Singles.
Also on the first day of play, both of Tech’s doubles teams were knocked out of the competition. The pair of Fiegel and Edwards was able to defeat Austin Emmet and Oliver Snaider of Mercer 8-5 in the Division I Round of 64 but fell later in the day to Alejandro Gomez and Panay Jha of Kentucky 3-8 in the Round of 32.
The pair of Benito and Kay was awarded a first round bye in but fell to David Biosca and Roger Ordeig of East Tennessee State University 6-8 in the Division I Round of 32.
Later that day in the Division II Round of 32, Kay defeated Charlie Griskey of the College of Charleston 6-3, 6-4, and Fiegel defeated Igancio Hernandez of Armstrong 3-6, 7-5, 6-4. Sharma fell to Jordi Ferrer of Charlotte 5-7, 5-7.
The following day, Kay defeated Stuart Kenyon of Alabama 3-6, 6-4, 6-2 in the Round of 16, but unfortunately, Fiegel was defeated by Forrest Edwards of Charlotte 1-6, 1-6.
In his first round consolation match, Edwards was narrowly defeated by Rafael Racy of Georgia Southern 4-6, 6-3, 0-1.
In the Division I Round of 32 singles, Benito was defeated by Rhys Johnson of Vanderbilt 5-7, 6-7.
On the third day of play, Kay was narrowly defeated by Suresh Eswaran of Vanderbilt 7-5, 3-6, 6-7 in the Division II Singles.
The Tech men’s tennis team will next travel to Charlottesville, Va. next weekend to compete in the UVA Ranked+1 Invitational.