COASTAL CAROLINA COMPETES AT ITA CAROLINA REGIONALS | SINGLES | DOUBLES 

The Coastal Carolina men's tennis team recorded seven victories through the first two days of the ITA Carolina Regional played at the Cary Tennis Park in Cary, N.C.

Matias Di Pasquale claimed the lone win for the Chants in the first round of the singles flight on Thursday as he defeated Appalachian State's Carson Greve in straight sets 6-3, 6-4.  Di Pasquale's progress through the bracket would then be halted by Fred Saba of Duke, who edged Di Pasquale 6-4, 6-0.

After being ousted from the main draws in the first round, Hunter Whalen, Ted Nilsson and Garik Yedigarian all recorded first round wins in the consolation bracket on Thursday.

Whalen passed Presbyterian's Andrew Brigham 6-2, 6-4 before suffering a close loss to Alon Fariman of College of Charleston 4-6, 6-1, 6-2.

Having advanced past their first round opponents, Nilsson and Yedigarian were then forced to face each other in the round of 32.  Nilsson came out on top of his fellow Chanticleer 7-6(5), 6-3 to advance to the round of 16, where he quickly put away South Carolina's Harry Menzies 6-3, 6-4.  Nilsson will play his quarterfinal match on Saturday against Jack Williams of UNC Charlotte.

Friday's matches also saw the Chants record two doubles victories.  The CCU pair of Leo Christofides and John Karle downed Campbell's pair of Baro and Rossignon 8-4 to advance to the second round to be played Saturday.

Di Paquale's and Yedigarian's doubles match against NC State's pair of Carter and Sanchez resulted in a walkover, as the NCSU pair did not compete.  The Coastal pair will also return to action on Saturday as they face Delcore and Sherwood of Wake Forest.

Coastal Carolina's Nilsson advanced to the round of eight in the men's consolation singles bracket before being ousted Saturday by Jack Williams of UNC Charlotte.

After dropping a first round decision in the main draws, Nilsson advanced to the quarterfinals of the consolation round by winning his first match in three sets, his second match in straight sets with a first-set tiebreaking win, and his third match in straight sets.  Williams advanced to the quarterfinals in a very similar fashion, winning his first match in three sets, his second match in straight sets with a first-set tiebreaking win, and his third match in straight sets.

Williams would go on to win the quarterfinal match 6-3, 6-3, eliminating Nilsson from the tournament.

Saturday also saw two of Coastal's pairs eliminated from doubles competition.

Di Pasquale and Yedigarian's first round match, scheduled to be against North Carolina State's Carter and Sanchez on Friday, resulted in walkover.  The duo then lost a round-of-32 match against Wake Forrest's Delcore and Sherwood.

Christofides and Karle also advanced to the round of 32 after taking their first round match Friday, 8-4.  However, the tandem could not overcome Bison and Protsenko of SC State to advance to the round of 16.

The ITA Regional marked the end of the men's tennis team fall schedule.  The Chants will begin their 2013 spring campaign on Sunday, Jan. 27 when they host Mercer.  Big South Conference play will begin Feb. 23 against Gardner-Webb.

LIBERTY, LONGWOOD COMPETE IN ITA ATLANTIC REGIONALS

Siim Tuus reached the round of 16 for the second consecutive year, highlighting play for the Liberty men's tennis team, as they concluded a strong weekend of competition at the ITA Atlantic Regional in Charlottesville, Va.

The Flames placed five players directly into the main draw for the first time ever and each of those five players delivered first round wins. Overall, Liberty posted six singles wins for the weekend.

Tuus and Shea Thomas both were seeded, marking the first time a Liberty men's team has had two players seeded in the Regional Tournament.

Egon Samaai, Dillon Segur and Jorge Azuero kicked off the weekend for the Flames with wins in the opening round.  Samaai topped Matt Barry of Penn State in straight sets, 6-3, 7-5.  Segur battled Old Dominion's Tim Schweig and downed the Monarchs' freshman, 6-3, 7-5.  Azuero continued the Flames winning ways by defeating Alexander Drean of UMBC, 7-6, 6-3.

In the round of 64, Samaii lost a hard-fought three-set match to seeded Albert Ochagavia of Old Dominion, 6-7, 6-3, 6-3.  Segur fell to the No. 7 seed Harrison Richmond of Virginia, 6-1, 6-3, while Azuero dropped a 7-5, 6-1 decision to No. 15 seed Danil Zelenkov of George Washington.

After receiving first round byes, Thomas and Tuus both picked up straight-set wins in the round of 64.  Thomas beat James Madison's Greg Vladimirsky, 7-5, 6-2, while Tuus rolled past Tanner Baine of George Mason, 6-1, 6-1.

Thomas' run was ended by the No. 15 seed Danil Zelenkov of George Washington, 7-5, 6-1.  Tuus pulled an upset over the No. 8 seed Tomas Hanzlik of Penn State, 7-6 (2), 6-4.  Hanzlik played in both the No. 1 and 2 positions for the Nittany Lions last season.  With Tuus' win over Hanzlik, the Flames finished the fall with a perfect 3-0 record against Penn State in singles play.  Tuus fell in the round of 16 to the No. 9 seed from Virginia Tech, Andreas Bjerrehus, 6-2, 6-4.

In doubles play, Thomas and Samaai downed Dylan McCloskey and Francis Pare of VCU, 8-4, before falling to the No. 3 seeded duo of Russell Bader and Roman Trkulja of Penn State, 8-4.

The Longwood University men's tennis team participated in the USTA/ITA Atlantic Regional Championships hosted by the University of Virginia on October 18-22.  Sophomore Harry Kelleher (2-1) led the Lancers in singles competition.  Longwood will open its spring schedule on January 19 when the squad travels to in-state foe Virginia Tech.

Kelleher, who had the No. 2 seed in the Qualifications Draw, earned a bye in the qualification semifinal before defeating Ian Uriguen of Virginia (6-2, 6-0) in the qualification final.  He then moved on to the main draw, beating Jordan Dyke of George Mason (0-6, 6-3, 6-4) in his round of 128 match before falling to Lucas Oliveira of Virginia Tech (6-4, 3-6, 3-6) in the round of 64.

Sophomore Daniel Elston  (1-1) also represented Longwood in singles competition, advancing to the round of 32 by defeating Daniel Grauel of Norfolk St (6-1, 6-4) and earning a bye in the next round, but was knocked out of the tournament by No. 7 seed Harrison Richmond of UVA (0-6, 2-6).

In doubles play, Kelleher and teammate Edward Becker (0-1) lost in their round of 64 match to St. Joseph's (6-8), while

Sophomore Steed Johnson and freshman James Fudge  (0-1) also fell in the round of 64 to the University of Richmond (83-8).