Feb. 29, 2008

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SPARTANBURG, S.C. - Sophomore Renzo Airaldi (Lima, Peru)/Domingo Faustino Sarmiento) won his singles match of the season to become the 11th player in school history to reach 20 singles wins in a season in program history as the USC Upstate men's tennis team posted its first Atlantic Sun Conference win, 6-1, over Mercer on Friday afternoon at the USC Upstate Tennis Complex.

The Spartans (6-2, 1-0 A-Sun) swept the doubles point, as senior Sebastian Gonzales-Orbegoso (Lima, Peru/Cambridge College) and junior Leandro Osorio (Quillota, Chile/Subercaseaux) posted an 8-1 win over Chapman Mitchel and Tobias Ohrstrom at No. 1 doubles. Airaldi and sophomore Javier Tori (Lima, Peru/Markham College) clinched the point with an 8-4 win over Fernando Armendaris and Ivan Bensacon at No. 2 doubles and junior Sandy Franz (Duesseldorf, Germany/Berufskolleg Hilden) and sophomore Jack Roux (Santiago, Chile/Subercaseaux) wrapped up the doubles part of the match with an 8-3 win over Ryan Ingram and Justin Wimpee.

Tori added the first singles win in Upstate's A-Sun Conference history with a 6-1, 6-2 win over Wimpee at No. 3 singles and Airaldi added a 3-6, 6-1, 6-1 win over Besancon at No. 2 singles. Franz clinched the match with a 6-4, 6-4 win over Ohrstrom at No. 1 singles for his fifth straight win. After Mercer (2-6, 0-1 A-Sun) earned a point at No. 6 singles, the Spartans won the last two points with Roux taking a 7-6 (6), 1-6, 10-5 win in the super tiebreak at No. 4 singles and Gonzales-Orbegoso closing the meet with a 6-4, 6-7 (5), 10-4 win at No. 5.

Gonzales-Orbegoso now has 98 career wins (47 singles, 51 doubles), leaving him two shy of becoming the fourth player in the men's program history to reach 100 career combined wins.

The Spartans head to Clemson for the Clemson Spring Classic on Saturday for an 8:30 a.m. match against Florida A&M followed by a 1 p.m. match against The Citadel.

Men's Tennis Match Results
USC Upstate 6, Mercer 1
 Singles competition
1. Sandy Franz (UPST) def. Tobias Ohrstrom (MER) 6-4, 6-4
2. Renzo Airaldi (UPST) def. Ivan Besancon (MER) 3-6, 6-1, 6-1
3. Javier Tori (UPST) def. Justin Wimpee (MER) 6-1, 6-2
4. Jack Roux (UPST) def. Fernando Armendaris (MER) 7-6 (8-6), 1-6, 10-5
5. S. Gonzales-Orbegoso (UPST) def. Chapman
Mitchell (MER) 6-4, 6-7 (5-7), 10-4
6. Matthew Poleon (MER) def. Leandro Osorio (UPST) 6-3, 1-6, 7-5
 Doubles competition 
1. S. Gonzales-Orbegoso/Leandro Osorio (UPST) def. Chapman Mitchell/
Tobias Ohrstrom (MER) 8-1
2. Renzo Airaldi/Javier Tori (UPST) def. Fernando Armendaris/Ivan Besancon (MER) 8-4
3. Sandy Franz/Jack Roux (UPST) def. Ryan Ingram/
Justin Wimpee (MER) 8-3
Match Notes:
Mercer 2-6, 0-1 A-Sun
USC Upstate 6-2, 1-0 A-Sun
T-2:55  A-104