ROME, Ga. – Georgia Southern, Georgia State, Louisiana and Old Dominion battled through the quarterfinals on Friday in the 2024 Sun Belt Conference Men’s Tennis Championship at the Rome Tennis Center. Each team secured a spot in the event’s semifinal round to be contested on Saturday.
Friday’s action featured one upset in which fifth-seeded Louisiana came from behind to defeat fourth-seeded South Alabama 4-3. Regular Season Co-Champions Georgia Southern and Old Dominion also swept their quarterfinal matches 4-0.
The first semifinal matchup will feature Georgia Southern against Louisiana at 10 a.m. EST. Second-seeded Old Dominion will face third-seeded Georgia State at 2 p.m. EST. The matches will be broadcast live on ESPN+.
Match 2: (1) Georgia Southern 4, (8) Coastal Carolina 0
Box Score
Top-seeded Georgia Southern won early and often to advance to the tournament semifinals.
Coastal Carolina (9-14) was unable to score the doubles point despite the pairing of Ryuya Ata and Carlos Berna Ruiz leading 5-4.
Georgia Southern (14-8) started the match earning the doubles point as Laurent Julia Calac and Aaron James Williams defeated Cahill/Tripathi 6-3 on court three to start. Judson Blair and Pierre Mouesca defeated Toresan/Wayenburg 6-4 to give the Eagles the early lead.
The Eagles used the momentum from the doubles point to quickly jump ahead 3-0. Julia Calac won on court six 6-1, 6-0 and Sun Belt Men’s Tennis Player of the Year Dimitris Paliouras won on court one 6-0, 6-3. Coastal forced a third set on court two, however Pol del Castillo came away with the win (6-2, 6-7 (5-7), 6-2) to advance Georgia Southern into the semifinals.
Match 3: (5) Louisiana 4, (4) South Alabama 3
Box Score
Fifth-seeded Louisiana denied fourth-seeded South Alabama a return trip to the semifinals with four victories in singles.
South Alabama (10-10) earned the doubles point with wins on courts one and two. Rostislav Halfinger and Javier Montoya won 7-6 (7-5) on court two to counter the win from Louisiana on court three. Jack Clements and Braden Hannig won 7-5 on court one to secure the early lead.
Louisiana (12-10) responded with a pair of singles wins to take a 2-1 lead. Samuel Kyjaci won 6-4, 6-3 on court five as Alejandro Sanchez Gonzalez won 6-1, 7-5 on court one.
South Alabama responded with a pair of singles wins as Hannig won on court four by a margin of 7-6 (7-4), 6-2 as Harold van Raemdonck came back to win 2-6, 6-4, 6-2 on court six to put the Jaguars one match away from a semifinal berth.
Louisiana’s Vasil Dimitrov leveled the score 3-3 with a 6-7 (2-7), 6-3, 6-3 win on court three. Trailing 5-2 in the third set, William Ribero won five consecutive games to give the Ragin Cajuns the win on court two.
Match 4: (2) Old Dominion 4, (7) Southern Miss 0
Box Score
Southern Miss (7-11) led on doubles court one that went unfinished, as the Golden Eagles won a set in singles.
Old Dominion (18-7) earned the doubles point as Cosme Rolland de Ravel and Codie van Schalkwyk won 6-2 on court two and Yanis Moundir with Maxime Mereschal-Hay won 6-3 on court three.
Aryan Saleh won his match on court six 6-4, 6-3 to give the Monarchs a 2-0 advantage. Mareschal-Hay won his match on court five 6-4, 6-2 to put Old Dominion on match point. Rolland de Ravel secured the victory on court one 6-4, 6-2.
Match 5: (3) Georgia State 4, (6) Troy 1
Box Score
Georgia State (11-12) took an early lead with the doubles point. Troy’s pairing of Bejamin Ambrosio and Carles Anton won on court three 7-4, before the Panthers won the point with consecutive wins. The pairings of Gabriele Datie/Maxwell Weir and Naufal Kamaruzzaman/Diogo Morais won 7-5 and 7-6 (7-4) as the tiebreak win from Datie and Weir provided the doubles point.
Troy (19-7) responded with an early win in singles as Carles Anton won 6-4, 6-1 on court two to tie the match. The Panthers answered with three consecutive singles wins in a pair of sets to seal the match.
Weir started the run on court five winning 6-3, 6-4. Morais followed on court three with a 6-3, 7-5 victory. Datei sealed the match on court four in 6-4, 7-5 fashion to send the Panthers to the semifinals.
2024 Sun Belt Men's Tennis Championship (Rome, Ga.)
First Round – Thursday, April 18
Match 1 – (8) Coastal Carolina 4, (9) James Madison 2
Quarterfinals - Friday, April 19
Match 2 – (1) Georgia Southern 4, (8) Coastal Carolina 0
Match 3 – (5) Louisiana 4, (4) South Alabama 3
Match 4 – (2) Old Dominion 4, (7) Southern Miss 0
Match 5 – (3) Georgia State 4, (6) Troy 1
Semifinals - Saturday, April 20
Match 6 – (1) Georgia Southern vs. (5) Louisiana – 10:00 a.m. ET
Match 7 – (2) Old Dominion vs. (3) Georgia State – 2:00 p.m. ET
Championship - Sunday, April 21
Match 8 – Winner Match 6 vs. Winner Match 7– 1:00 p.m. ET