Spartanburg, S.C. - The Stetson men's tennis team (18-4, 7-2 Atlantic Sun) saw its nine-match winning streak come to an end Thursday on the road at 52nd-ranked USC Upstate (16-5, 8-0 A-Sun), falling 6-1. Three singles matches that went into hard-fought third sets all narrowly went the way of the Spartans and changed the course of the match.
Junior Alex Hackett (Surrey, England) tied the match 1-1 with a 7-5, 6-2 win at #5 singles against current A-Sun Player of the Week Ramiro Blanco after USC Upstate captured the doubles point with a pair of victories. Jack Roux beat Stetson freshman Didrik Berg (Oslo, Norway) in straight sets to put the home team ahead 2-1 as three of the final four singles matches would all go into a winner-take-all third set.
Spartan players came away victorious in all of those affairs, however, to keep USC Upstate, the A-Sun's highest-ranked squad, unbeaten in league play and on track to claim its first Atlantic Sun Conference regular season championship.
The Hatters conclude the 2010 regular season tomorrow at league rival Campbell. The match begins at 1 p.m. in Buies Creek, N.C. If Stetson wins, it clinches at least the #2 seed in the six-team A-Sun Championships (April 15-17 at the Mandy Stoll Tennis Center) and a bye into the semifinals.
