Bears Battle 49ers for 4-3 Win on Saturday

Saturday, February 11

Macon, Ga.

11 AM

Mercer University

Charlotte

2/11/2017 5:41:00 PM | Men's Tennis

Final Stats

MACON, Ga. – Mercer rallied from 3-1 deficit and used an incredible third set to clinch the match 4-3 and grab the win from Charlotte.

Charlotte took the doubles point to start the match off with a 1-0 lead. Mercer then entered into a hard fought battle in singles play.

The 49ers won the first singles match at flight six to go up up 2-0. Mercer then put up a point with a win from Fernando Guardia (6-3, 6-4) at flight four. Charlotte stretched its lead to 3-1 with a win on court five.

With the match on the line with every point played, Sam Philp won 3-6, 6-2, 6-1 at flight one and Olivier Stuart grabbed a 6-3, 5-7, 6-2 win to tie the match score at 3-3. Nicolas Guillon led Mercer to victory with an intense match (3-6, 6-3, 7-6 (8-6)) against Charlotte's, Constandinos Christoforou to put Mercer on top 4-3.

After forcing a third set, Guillon was down 0-4 and won the next five games to go up 5-4 in the set. After playing four match points 40-0, Charlotte came back to win the game and the next to go up 6-5. Guillon won the next two games to lead 7-6 and force the tie break. He also had his back against the wall in the tie break, facing the match point while down 5-6. Guillon won the final three points to win the tie break, 8-6, and seal the victory for the Bears.

PLAYER OF THE MATCH
Nicolas Guillon battled back in the third set at flight two to capture the win.

COACH HAYES' TAKE
"It was an amazing win today. We should never have lost doubles point after leading like we did, but the team showed tremendous effort to beat Charlotte in 1-4 singles spots. Nicolas (Guillon) showed tremendous fight to come back from 0-4 in third set"

Next up, Mercer will host Georgia Southwestern State on Saturday, February 18 at 11 a.m.

How to Follow the Bears:
For complete coverage of Mercer Tennis, please follow the Bears on social media at @MercerMTennis (Twitter) and /MercerMensTennis (Facebook) or visit the official home of Mercer Athletics at MercerBears.com.

Mercer 4, Charlotte 3
Feb. 11, 2017 | 11;00 a.m. | Macon, Ga. | LeRoy Peddy Tennis Center

Singles
1. Sam Philp (MER) def. Sam Rice (CHA) 3-6, 6-2, 6-1
2. Nicolas Guillon (MER) def. C. Christoforou (CHA) 3-6, 6-3, 7-6 (8-6)
3. Olivier Stuart (MER) def. Leonardo Menezes (CHA) 6-3, 5-7, 6-2
4. Fernando Guardia (MER) def. Oriol Puig Forne (CHA) 6-3, 6-4
5. Alejandro Garcia (CHA) def. Ruben Vanoppen (MER) 0-6, 6-3, 6-0
6. Max Benaim (CHA) def. Phillip Johnston (MER) 6-4, 6-4

Doubles
1. Sam Philp/Olivier Stuart (MER) def. Sam Rice/Leonardo Menezes (CHA) 6-1
2. Max Benaim/C. Christoforou (CHA) def. Nicolas Guillon/Fernando Guardia (MER) 7-5
3. Alejandro Garcia/Oriol Puig Forne (CHA) def. Ruben Vanoppen/E. Tsiranidis (MER) 7-5

Match Notes:
Charlotte 5-2
Mercer 4-2
Order of finish: Doubles (1,3,2); Singles (6,4,5,1,3,2)