HOUSTON, TX – Freshman Karl Rogers won the final four
games of his three-set match to win 6-4, 4-6, 6-3 and give
20th-ranked Francis Marion University a 5-4 upset of seventh-ranked
Cameron University, Wednesday afternoon (May 14) in the round of
Sweet 16 at the NCAA Division II Men’s Tennis National
Finals.
Francis Marion ups its record to 19-5 and moves on to
Thursday’s national quarterfinals at 2 p.m. (Eastern time) at
Houston’s Memorial Park. This will be FMU’s first
appearance in the Elite Eight.
With each squad having won four matches, it came down to Rogers
against Cameron’s Cristian Easton at No. 5 singles. The
Killiney, Ireland, native won the first set fairly easily and then
led 4-3 in set two before Easton captured three straight games to
win 6-4. With Easton serving first in set three, Rogers trailed
3-2. He then won his serve and broke Easton’s serve to go
ahead.
Francis Marion led 2-1 after doubles play, including a historic
win at the No. 1 position. Freshmen Oshada Wijemanne and Dilshod
Sharifi beat the Cameron duo of Jordi Mullor and Daniel Pazos, who
are ranked No. 1 in Division II, by the score of 8-3.
Patriot seniors Franklyn Emmanuel and Dananjaya Mayedunne won a
marathon 9-7 decision at No. 2 doubles.
The Aggies then took a 3-2 advantage with a pair of straight set
wins at No. 4 and No. 6 singles. Sharifi evened the match with a
6-3, 6-1 win at No. 3 singles, but Cameron won at No. 2 singles to
go up 4-3. Emmanuel, ranked 24th nationally, again pulled Francis
Marion even at 4-4 with a 6-4, 6-4 win at No. 1 singles over
Mullor, who is ranked 36th.
The top-ranked and undefeated Armstrong Atlantic State men's
tennis squad knocked off Abilene Christian, 5-1, in the Round of 16
at the 2008 NCAA Division II Men's Tennis Championships in Houston,
Texas.
The Pirates (28-0) won two of three doubles matches as Paul Bishop
and Davor Zink beating the duo of Farias and Nunez, 8-4, at No. 3
doubles and Rafael Array and Tim Johannsen knocking off Hawk and
Jones, 9-7. AASU then took three singles matches as Array defeated
Brian Joiner, 6-3, 6-0, at No. 4 singles for the first singles
point, then Bishop followed with a 6-1, 6-3 win over Luke Hawk at
No. 3 singles. Senior Davor Zink clinched the match at No. 6
singles with a 6-2, 6-1 win over Brett Proctor
AASU next faces Lynn University, 5-1 winners over Southwest Baptist
today, at 1:00 p.m. at Memorial Park on Thursday in quarterfinal
action.
Singles
#1 Tim Johannsen (AASU) vs. Nunez (ACU), DNF
#2 Robert Jendelund (AASU) vs. Hudson (ACU), DNF
#3 Paul Bishop (AASU) def. Hawk (ACU), 6-1, 6-3
#4 Rafael Array (AASU) def. Joiner (ACU), 6-3, 6-0
#5 Christian Bergh (AASU) vs. Farias (ACU), DNF
#6 Davor Zink (AASU) def. Proctor (ACU), 6-2, 6-1
Doubles
#1 Array/Johannsen (AASU) def. Hawk/Jones (ACU), 9-7
#2 Hudson/Joiner (ACU) def. Bergh/Jendelund (AASU), 9-8
#3 Bishop/Zink (AASU) def. Farias/Nunez (ACU), 8-4
Records: AASU 28-0, Abilene Christian 17-7
Baseball
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