ASHEVILLE, N.C. (www.BigSouthSports.com) – Zachary Sprouse’s three-set win at No. 5 singles allowed No. 7 Presbyterian College to upset second-seeded UNC Asheville, 4-3, in the quarterfinals of the Big South Conference Tennis Championships Thursday 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 No. 7 seed has beaten a No. 2 seed in the tournament.

Presbyterian College stunned the Bulldogs (13-11) early when the Blue Hose took the doubles point.  PC got wins at No. 1 and No. 2 doubles.  The team of Rafael Berghaus and Grayson Mills won, 8-5, and No. 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 No. 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 No. 3 and Gonzalo Asis at No. 6 to lead 3-1.

The Bulldogs battled back to tie the match at 3-3 with wins from Langeard at No. 1 and Rees rallied for a three-set win at No. 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.

PC (12-15) moves to the semifinals of the tournament on Friday, April 20 against the winner of the Coastal Carolina vs. Liberty match at 1:00pm.

Presbyterian College 4, UNC Asheville 3

Singles competition
1. LANGEARD, Adrien (ASH) def. MILLS, Grayson (PCM) 7-5, 6-3
2. WAISSEN, Matt (ASH) def. BERGHAUS, Rafael (PCM) 6-2, 6-1
3. O'CONNELL, William (PCM) def. BROBECK, Jonas (ASH) 6-1, 6-3
4. REES, Thomas (ASH) def. BRIGHAM, Andrew (PCM) 3-6, 7-6 (7-5), 6-4
5. SPROUSE, Zachary (PCM) def. MATTHEWS, Ryan (ASH) 4-6, 7-6 (7-4), 6-1
6. ASIS, Gonzalo (PCM) def. SCHUBEL, John (ASH) 6-4, 6-3
 
Doubles competition
1. BERGHAUS, Rafael/MILLS, Grayson (PCM) def. BROBECK, Jonas/WAISSEN, Matt (ASH) 8-5
2. BRIGHAM, Andrew/O'CONNELL, William (PCM) def. LANGEARD, Adrien/REES, Thomas (ASH) 8-5
3. SCHUBEL, John/CONATY, Pete (ASH) def. CROCKER, Nathan/SNEAD, Edward (PCM) 9-7