CLARKSVILLE - Austin Peay State University men's tennis
team locked up its second-straight Ohio Valley Conference Tournament appearance
with a 6-1 OVC win against Jacksonville State, Friday, at the Austin Peay
Tennis Courts.
With a young team, made of three sophomores
and three freshmen, head coach Malik Tabet has the Govs positioned for a No. 2
seed when the OVC Tennis Championships begin, next week, in Paducah, Ky. Last
year, the Govs needed a season-finale win to sneak into the tournament, before
losing in the quarterfinals to eventual-champion Eastern Kentucky.
Like most good teams, the Govs have done it
with consistent play in both singles and doubles. Perhaps their main weakness
last season was sore doubles, but this year Austin Peay has won the doubles
point 15 times. That includes Friday's match against JSU.
Sophomores Henrique Norbiato and Sean Bailey
played a solid No. 1 doubles match, while sophomore John Storie and freshman
Joao Pagan also won at No. 3 doubles. That momentum carried over to singles
play.
Again, Norbiato and Bailey rolled to
straight-set wins at Nos. 1 and 3 singles, respectively. Freshman Jasmin Ademovic struggled out of the gate, dropping the first set at No. 2. However,
like he has done all year, Ademovic made adjustments and won the next sets with
identical 6-2 scores.
Pagan and Storie, meanwhile, made up the Govs
depth with wins at Nos. 4 and 6, respectively.
Austin Peay will now have a week off before
the OVC championships. Tournament seeding should be announced by the league
office early next week.
Austin Peay 6, Jacksonville State 1
Singles competition
1. NORBIATO, Henrique (APSU) def. KENYON, Brian (JSU) 6-4, 6-2
2. ADEMOVIC, Jasmin (APSU) def. SUNDBERG, Axel (JSU) 4-6, 6-2, 6-2
3. BAILEY, Sean (APSU) def. MARCEC, Nenad (JSU) 6-1, 6-2
4. PAGAN, Joao (APSU) def. HOLZ, Gustavo (JSU) 6-1, 6-2
5. WATANABE, Felipe (JSU) def. CALLEJA, Remi (APSU) 4-6, 6-4, 10-8
6. STORIE, John (APSU) def. MATTHIESON, Eric (JSU) 6-4, 6-1
Doubles competition
1. NORBIATO, Henrique/BAILEY, Sean (APSU) def. KENYON, Brian/HOLZ, Gustavo (JSU) 8-5
2. SUNDBERG, Axel/MARCEC, Nenad (JSU) def. CALLEJA, Remi/ADEMOVIC, Jasmin (APSU) 8-2
3. STORIE, John/PAGAN, Joao (APSU) def. WATANABE, Felipe/MATTHIESON, Eric (JSU) 8-3
