ATLANTA (02/08/07) ? Continuing one of the best starts in recent history, Georgia State (5-1) men's tennis defeated Emory (0-1), 6-1, at the Woodruff PE Tennis Center on Emory's campus on Thursday afternoon.

“I'm excited about the way we play,” stated assistant coach Miha Lisac. "We are developing into a team to be reckoned with. As a team, we have to fix a couple of mental errors and we will be competing with some of the best teams out there."

Sophomore Nejc Podkrajsek and freshman Mattias Skold gave State a one match advantage winning the first doubles match.  Senior Martin Stiegwardt and freshman Andres Arango clinched the doubles point for the Panthers with an 8-5 victory.  Junior Anze Cevka and freshman Augusto Alvarado also defeated their opponent to sweep doubles for Georgia State.

Podkrajsek (Zalec, Slovenia) finished his match first downing Emory's Yoji Masuoka in straight sets.  Skold (Linkoping, Sweden) followed with a straight set victory at the No. 3 position.  Clinching the fifth victory of the season for State was Arango (Guayaquil, Ecuador) with a 7-5, 6-1 win over Hardy Ehlers from the Eagles.  Stiegwardt (Quito, Ecuador) and Cevka (Kamnik, Slovenia) also picked up wins at Emory in straight sets.

Georgia State will travel to Athens, Ga. on Saturday to contend with the No. 1 team in the nation, Georgia, at 2:00 p.m.

DOUBLES
No. 1 Podkrajsek/Skold (GSU) d. Goodwin/Masuoka (EU) 8-6
No. 2 Stiegwardt/Arango (GSU) vs. Kaufman/Ehlers (EC) 8-5*
No. 3 Cevka/Augusto Alvarado (GSU) d. Boren/Lopp (EU) 8-6
Order of finish: 1, 2*, 3
*Clinched the doubles point

SINGLES
No. 1 Martin Stiegwardt (GSU) d. Michael Goodwin (EU) 6-4, 7-6 (5)
No. 2 Nejc Podkrajsek( GSU) d. Yoji Masuoka (EU) 6-0, 6-2
No. 3 Mattias Skold (GSU) d. Mark Boren (EU) 6-4, 6-3
No. 4 Andres Arango (GSU) vs. Hardy Ehlers (EU) 7-5, 6-1*
No. 5 Anze Cevka (GSU) vs. Oliver Lopp (EU) 6-1, 7-5
No. 6 Michael Kaufman (EU) d. Daniel Balog (GSU) 6-2, 2-6, 10-8
Order of finish: 2 ,3, 4*, 1, 5, 6
*Clinched the match