Day Two of the Invitational Is Over
10/21/2000 12:00:00 AM | Men's Tennis
Oct. 21, 2000
East Lansing, Mich. - It was a grueling day of tennis for the Spartans. Freshman Eric Simonton was determined to remain undefeated as he defeated Nicolas Lopez-Acevedo of Bowling Green (BGSU) in three sets. Simonton lost the first set (4-6) and then had to battle back from 2-5 in the second only to win in a tie breaker (7-6(2)). He then won the third set 6-4. This was the highest seeded win for Simonton at the no. 3 slot. Simonton paired with sophomore Jimmy McGuire was defeated by N. Lopez-Acevedo and Nicholas Moxley of BGSU 8-6.
Sophomore Todd Townsend worked hard to defeat Ryan Maarschalk of WMU at the no. 3 slot by a score of 6-1, 3-6, 6-4. Townsend looked as though he would win with little effort until Maarschalk came back in the second set with a fierce determination to win. However, his determination was not enough to hold off Townsend in the third set, as Townsend became even more determined to win breaking Maarschalk for the final point. Townsend split his doubles matches. Paired with sophomore Adam Hourani the duo defeated Brandon Gabel and Mike Kossoff of BGSU 8-5. Townsend paired with sophomore Jason Chen was defeated by Ryan Maarschalk and Ravi Pathanjali of WMU, 8-2.
Another grueling match of the day was sophomore Goran Topalo who ended up loosing in three sets to Fernando Garcia of Western Michigan (WMU). Topalo won the first set 7-6 (4) in a tie break. Then lost the next two 7-5, 6-2. The pair were going head to head throughout the whole match. Neither was willing to give up. Topalo paired with sophomore Rodrigo Abucham was defeated by Steve Pillon and Ryan Tomlinson of WMU, 8-1.
Freshman Mike Hodge had a rough first singles match of the tournament. He defeated Mike Kossoff of BGSU in three sets. The first set set the tone of the match by going into a tie break. Hodge lost 6-7 (1) but then came back to win the second and third sets 6-4, 6-3.
Other winners on the day were freshman Chris Mitchell defeating Geoff Hiscox of BGSU 6-3, 6-4. Sophomore Jason Chen won his first singles today defeating Kai Blache of WMU 6-4, 6-2. Chen, paired with freshman Josh Efros, defeated Ed Kuresman and Peter Gardonyi of WMU 9-8 (10).
The Spartans will face off against Toledo tomorrow in the final day of the Advantage Spartan Invitational.