Bears Drop Pair of Matches at Arkansas Wednesday

Wednesday, January 16

Fayetteville, Ark.

3 p.m.

Mercer University

Arkansas

Bears Drop Pair of Matches at Arkansas Wednesday

1/16/2019 9:47:00 PM | Men's Tennis

By: Will Tharp

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – The Mercer men's tennis team dropped both matches in their doubleheader at Arkansas Wednesday afternoon. The Bears dropped the first contest, 6-1, with Nico Guillon picking up a big win at the No. 2 singles slot. Mercer also fell in the second match, 6-1, with Olivier Stuart picking up the lone point by defeating Josh Howard-Tripp.

The Razorbacks swept the doubles competition to begin the afternoon and claim the early lead. The Bears' No. 1 pairing of Stathis Tsiranidis and David Georgadze fell, 6-2, to Oscar Mesquida and Adam Sanjurjo. On court No. 2, Mercer's pairing of Olivier Stuart and Guillon were topped by Enrique Paya and Maxim Verboven, 6-3. The Razorbacks completed the doubles sweep with No. 3 Alex Reco and Josh Howard-Tripp downing Jimmy Emslie and Carver Arant, 6-0.

Arkansas managed to claim nearly all of the singles positions in straight sets with the exception of court No. 2. No. 1 Stuart fell, 6-2, 7-5, to Mesquida. No. 3 Tsiranidis was beaten, 6-2, 6-2, by Howard-Tripp. Court No. 4 saw Georgadze fall, 6-0, 6-0, to Alonso. On court No. 5, Verboven, 6-3, 6-1, bested Guardia. Mercer's No. 6 Arant was defeated by Paya, 6-1, 7-5. The Bears' No. 2 slotted Guillon, rallied back from a set down, to claim a, 4-6, 6-3, 10-7, decision over Adam Sanjurjo. Guillon's victory gave Mercer its lone point of the first match.

Arkansas carried over their momentum to the back end of the doubleheader, winning the doubles competition once again. The Razorbacks No. 1 duo of Paya and Verboven beat Tsiranidis and Georgadze, 6-4. The doubles point was clinched as Mercer's No. 3 pairing of Piyush Salekar and Fernando Guardia fell, 6-0, to Mesquida and Alonso. Action on court No. 2 was left unfinished.

Once again, the Razorbacks would control singles action with Mercer snagging one point in the match. No. 1 Sanjurjo and Guillon battled with Arkansas coming out on top, 0-6, 6-4, 10-8. The Bears' No. 2 Stuart pulled off the straight set upset over Howard-Tripp, 6-2, 6-2. On court No. 3, Tsiranidis fell, 6-4, 6-2, to Alex Reco. No. 4 Guardia was defeated by Alonso, 6-1, 6-0. Court No. 5 saw Georgadze drop a 6-2, 6-2, decision to Paya. On court No. 6, Arant battled in a match that went the distance, but came up short, losing to Verboven, 4-6, 6-2, 10-6.

The Mercer men's tennis team will be back in action on Monday, Jan. 28, as they travel to DeLand, Fla. to face the Stetson Hatters.