April 4, 2015

@GT_MTEN Falls 5-2 to No. 12 Wake Forest

April 4, 2015

THE FLATS –

Eduardo Segura and Cole Fiegel pulled off straight-set singles victories to rally Georgia Tech from a 2-0 deficit Friday, but Wake Forest held on and took a 5-2 victory over the Yellow Jackets at the Ken Byers Tennis Complex.

The Yellow Jackets fell to 11-7 overall, 3-4 in the ACC, while the Demon Deacons improved to 13-6 and 4-3 in conference play.

Wake Forest seized momentum by taking the doubles point with victories at No. 1 and 2. All three matches were tight early, but at the No. 3 spot, Nathan Rakitt and Cole Fiegel pulled away for an 8-3 win over Romain Bogaerts and Kevin Tabrizi. The 10th ranked pairing of Chrisitan Seraphim and Skander Mansouri defeated Christopher Eubanks and Michael Kay in a tiebreaker, 8-7 (11-9).

The Demon Deacons clinched the point by winning a second tiebreaker, when Noah Rubin and Jon Ho outlasted Segura and Carlos Benito, 8-7 (8-6), at No. 2.

“I don’t know what to say about doubles,” said head coach Kenny Thorne. “I mean we are putting ourselves in a position to win, and we are doing it against good teams. And we end up losing 11-9 and 8-6 in tiebreakers. We are not doing too much wrong; we just have got to finish. They hit a backhanded winner down the line on match point. I have been coaching a lot of years and have not seen that good of points on match points down. Credit to them [Wake Forest], they came up with the shots.”

In singles play, Noah Rubin, ranked 27th in the nation, downed Christopher Eubanks, 6-2, 6-4, and grabbed the first singles point for Wake Forest at the No. 1 position. But Tech responded as senior Eduardo Segura put together a straight-set 6-2, 6-2 win over Keivon Tabrizi at No. 6. At the No. 5 position, sophomore Cole Fiegel continued the charge with a 6-3, 7-6 (7-2) victory over Christian Seraphim, knotting the match score up at 2-2.

At the No. 4 position, freshmen Michael Kay battled with No. 80 Jon Ho, but ultimately fell in a tiebreaker, 7-5, 7-6 (7-5). Sophomore Carlos Benito fought back to force a third set against Romain Bogaerts, but lost to the 8th-ranked junior, 6-3, 4-6, 6-2, at No. 2. Skander Mansouri finished off the night for the Demon Deacons with a 6-3, 6-7(6-8), 6-3 win over Nathan Rakitt at No. 3.

Tech returns to action at the Ken Byers Tennis Complex Saturday at 1 p.m. against No. 34 North Carolina State.

#12 Wake Forest 5, Georgia Tech 2

Apr 03, 2015 at Atlanta, Ga. (Ken Byers Tennis Complex)

Singles competition

1. #27 Noah Rubin (WF) def. #73 Christopher Eubanks (GT) 6-2, 6-4

2. #8 Romain Bogaerts (WF) def. Carlos Benito (GT) 6-3, 4-6, 6-2

3. Skander Mansouri (WF) def. #107 Nathan Rakitt (GT) 6-2, 6-7 (6-8), 6-3

4. #80 Jon Ho (WF) def. Michael Kay (GT) 7-5, 7-6 (7-5)

5. Cole Fiegel (GT) def. Christian Seraphim (WF) 6-3, 7-6 (7-2)

6. Eduardo Segura (GT) def. Keivon Tabrizi (WF) 6-2, 6-2

Doubles competition

1. #10 Christian Seraphim/Skander Mansouri (WF) def. Christopher Eubanks/Michael Kay (GT) 8-7 (11-9)