April 15, 2008

(from Lee University sports information)

Cleveland, Tenn. - The 13th-ranked Shorter College men's tennis team took a dramatic 5-4 victory over the 10th-ranked and Southern States Athletic Conference rival Lee University Flames on Tuesday afternoon.

Lee's Dimitar Pamukchiyan and Caio Borges put Shorter's Juliano Cirimbelli and David Araiza away in the top doubles flight, 8-3, while Sidney Victoratto and Christian Thobo-Carlsen gave Lee the point at No. 2. They teamed up to turn back Jordan Hubbard and Josh Lewis 8-4. The final point went to Shorter's Quentin Grieu and Henrique Tomaz over Juan Saa and Zach Smith, 8-3.

Pamukchiyan continued play with a strong 6-2, 7-5 victory over Cirimbelli for the point at No. 1. However, Shorter erased the Flames' 3-1 advantage with four straight victories. Grieu topped Victoratto 6-2, 6-2, while Araiza earned a 6-3, 6-3 victory over Saa. Thobo-Carlsen dropped the fifth point to Lewis, 6-3, 6-3.

The final point for Shorter was a difficult one. Tomaz and Borges battled to a 6-6 draw in the first set before entering a tiebreaker. After the two tied the breaker at five, Tomaz won the next two points. Borges took the second set 6-4, but the final set went to the Hawks' No. 2 netters, 6-1.

Smith and Francisco Franco played a pro set for Lee's third point, with the Flames' No. 6 man winning 8-3.

No. 13-rated Shorter improved to 13-4 and 3-0 in the SSAC, while Lee dropped to a disappointing 5-4 and fourth in league play at 1-3. Both clubs will enter Southern States tournament play on Apr. 18 at the Champions Club in Chattanooga.