Men's Tennis Battles in 2005 SIC

Men’s Tennis Battles in 2005 SIC

9/26/2005

ATHENS. Ga. — For the second straight weekend the Vanderbilt men’s tennis team competed in a Fall invitational tournament when the Commodores went down to Georgia for the 2005 Southern Intercollegiate Championships. The tournament featured 133 student-athletes from 25 different universities.

The best VU performance on the weekend belonged to junior Nathan Sachs (Alpharetta, Ga.) who won his first three matches before falling to Prediag Burmazovic of South Carolina — Upstate 0-6, 6-3, 6-2 in the semifinals of the Division II Singles bracket. Sachs, who received a bye in the first round as the No. 5 seed in that draw, had to battle back from down one set in each of his first two matches before he beat UGA’s Josh Varela 6-3, 6-3 in the quarterfinals.

Sachs also shared the team’s top doubles performance with freshman Nick Cromydas (Glenview, Ill.) to reach the quarterfinals of the Division II Doubles draw. The duo won its first two matches 8-3 and 8-6 before dropping an 8-6 decision to Florida State’s Drew Bailey and Maciek Sykut.

Both sophomore Ryan Preston (Northbrook, Ill.) and junior Andy Mack (Plano, Texas) each played in the Division I Singles draw, while Sachs, Cromydas Evan Dufaux (Tampa, Fla.) and Jordan Margarik (Winchester, Vir.) each played in the Division II Singles bracket.

Preston won his first two matches, both against SEC opponents, but then fell in the round of 16 against another Southeastern Conference foe, Florida’s Nestor Briceno. Preston beat Tennessee’s Bobby Cameron 6-2, 6-1 and held off Ole Miss’ Erling Tveit, the bracket’s No. 5 seed, 5-7, 7-6 (4) 7-6 (1).

Mack also won his first two matches, a 6-4, 6-7 (4), 6-1 victory over Furman’s Ben Pauluhn, and an upset over the No. 3 seed Joey Atlas of Duke (6-4, 6-4). And like Preston, Mack also fell to a SEC opponent, Yevgeny Supeko of South Carolina.

Cromydas, Dufaux and Magarik all fell in their first matches, but were able to continue playing in the consolation bracket. All three won both of their consolation matches however.

In the other two doubles matches, Magarik and Preston fell to an Ole Miss team 8-3 while Dufaux and Mack fell to a squad from Georgia 8-4.