Peachtree City, Ga.--The Georgia State men's tennis team earned a 7-0 win over Austin Peay at the Peachtree City Tennis Center on Sunday.
The win was GSU's first 7-0 shutout victory since a 7-0 win vs. Morehouse on Mar. 25, 2011. The Panthers (5-2) took the doubles point vs. Austin Peay (3-3) on Sunday and improved to 30-1 under third-year head coach Chase Hodges when taking the doubles point. The Panthers won the doubles point this season after getting swept in doubles last year against the Governors.
"Our doubles play has drastically improved from last year," Hodges said, "Our guys now understand the importance of that doubles point and know that we are extremely tough to beat when we get that doubles point."
GSU began the match with a doubles victory at No. 1 thanks to junior Victor Valente and freshman Matias Hatem. The pair dropped the first game, but won eight straight games to take their match 8-1.
The No. 3 doubles pair of senior Juan Pablo Gutierrez and junior Lucas Santana followed with a 8-5 win over Austin Peay's Iago Seffrin and Aleksas Tverijonas. The No. 2 pair of sophomore Thomas Cook and freshman Sofiane Chevallier fell 8-7 (7-5), in a tiebreaker after fighting back from a fives games to two deficit.
Valente stayed hot in singles by dispatching Austin Peay's Sean Bailey 6-1, 6-1 at the No. 1 spot. The win was Valente's 40th career singles victory in dual matches. Hatem followed shortly thereafter by battling back from a 4-2 deficit in the first set to take a 6-4, 6-2 win at No. 3 singles. Hatem is tied for the team lead with a 6-1 record this season in singles play and has won three straight singles matches.
Chevallier clinched the match for GSU with a 6-2, 3-6, 6-2 victory at No. 4 singles. It was the Paris, France, native's first singles victory in his Georgia State career. Cook took a grueling match 6-2, 4-6, 6-3 from Austin Peay sophomore Jasmin Ademovic. Ademovic was 4-0 in dual matches on the season heading into the match with all of his wins coming in the No. 1 slot. The win snapped a four-match losing streak for Cook.
Rounding out the match were victories from Gutierrez and Santana. Gutierrez won at No. 5 singles 7-6 (7-4), 6-4, over the Governors' Aleksas Tverijonas while Santana took a 6-3, 6-1 match from Michal Hriciste.
The Panthers next play against Winthrop on Friday (1 p.m.) at the Sharon E. Lester Tennis Center. Check the Georgia State men's tennis page this week for a preview of Friday's match vs. Winthrop.
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