CSU Tennis Teams Blank Fort Valley State on Friday

Columbus, Ga. -- The eighth-ranked Columbus State men's and women's tennis teams took advantage of Friday's nice weather and posted shutout wins over visiting Fort Valley State. Each team posted 9-0 wins over the Wildcats at the Blackmon Tennis Center.

In women's action, CSU surrendered just four games in the seven matches decided on the courts.  The Lady Cougars got default wins at #3 doubles and #6 singles.

In doubles play, Tracy Castillo and Loriane Favoretto defeated Roberta Robinson and Mary Opata 8-1 at number one, while Sofia Persson and Lucy Bird took out Breanna Pettiford and Chelsea Spear, also by an 8-1 count. Andrea Redrado and Gabriela Vasilescu won by default.

In singles, Favoretto defeated Robinson at numer one by a 6-0, 6-1 count. At number two, Castillo defeated Pettiford 6-0, 6-0. Persson defeated Opata 6-0, 6-1 at number three, while Redrado blanked Shakeela Jackson 6-0, 6-0. Bird defeated Spear at number five 6-0, 6-0, and Vasilescu won by default at number six. 

In men's action, the Cougar netters had similar results, surrendering just five games in singles and doubles combined. 

CSU picked up all three doubles points to start things, allowing FVSU to win just one game in the three matches. At number one, Frank Suarez and Christophe Noblet defeated Andrew Belk and Dwayne White 8-0. Gordan Divljak and Nemanja Djuric followed suit at number two, blanking Kenny Thornton and Tommy Williams 8-0. Diego Motivar and Filip Cojbasic won at number three over Brandon Pringle and Kelvin Oliver 8-1.

In singles play, Olivier Simonet took care of Williams at the number one slot in straight sets, 6-0, 6-0. Divljak followed at number two by defeating White 6-0, 6-1, while Noblet defeated Thornton 6-1, 6-0 at number three. At number four, Motivar handled Pringle 6-1, 6-0, followed at number five by Cojbasic knocking off Belk 6-1, 6-0. Djuric closed out the clean sweep by defeating Oliver 6-0, 6-1 at number six. 

The CSU women are now 5-1 overall and host Clayton State on Saturday in a big early season top-10 matchup. CSU, at #8 faces the #10 Lakers at 12 p.m. at the Blackmon Tennis Center. The match is also the first Peach Belt Conference match of the year for CSU,

The CSU men return to play next Thursday (Feb. 25) at West Florida in Pensacola.