ATLANTA (01/25/07) – Junior Anze Cevka (Kamnik, Slovenia) led the way as the Georgia State men's tennis team defeated South Carolina State, 7-0, at the Bitsy Grant Tennis Center on Thursday in Georgia State's season opener.

At the No. 1 position in singles, senior Martin Stiegwardt (Quito, Ecuador) clinched the victory for the Panthers with a 6-2, 6-1 victory over S.C. State's Ionuc Hurduc.

After dropping a doubles match in the No. 1 position, the Panthers went on to dominate the Bulldogs winning the next two doubles matches and all singles play.

Newcomers, sophomore Augusto Alvarado (Panama City, Panama) and freshman Andres Arango (Guayaquil, Ecuador) were victorious with an 8-4 win in doubles action. Sophomore Nejc Podkrajsek (Zalec, Slovenia) and freshman Mattias Skold (Linkoping, Sweden) clinched the doubles point for the Panthers winning 8-5.

“It was good to see the new players win their first match as a Panther,” commented head coach Nick Brochu. “It was a great win for us.”

Georgia State 7, South Carolina State 0

Doubles

No. 1 Hurduc/ Plotnikov (SCSU) def. Stiegwardt/ Cevka 8-5

No. 2 Podkrajsek/Skold (GSU) def. Chaturvedi/ Bisercic 8-5

No. 3 Alavardo/ Arango (GSU) def. Lenger/Milijoceciz 8-4

Order of Finish 3, 2*, 1

*Clinch

Singles

1- Martin Stiegwardt (GSU) def. Ionuc Hurduc (SCSU) 6-2, 6-1

2- Nejc Podkrajsek (GSU) def. Parantap Chaturvedi (SCSU) 6-2, 6-0

3- Mattias Skold (GSU) def. Dragen Bisercic (SCSU) 6-2, 7-6 (7)

4- Andres Arango (GSU) def. Sergey Plotnikov (SCSU) 6-3, 7-6 (6)

5- Anze Cevka (GSU) def. Dimitry Lomakin (SCSU) 6-1, 6-3

6- Daniel Balog (GSU) def. Lenger (SCSU) 6-0, 6-4

Order of Finish: 5, 2, 1*, 3, 4, 6

*Clinch