Box Score 1 | Box Score 2 MATCH 1 RESULTS (PDF)
MATCH 2 RESULTS (PDF)

ATLANTA, Ga. – The Citadel men's tennis team split a pair of matches Saturday in Atlanta, Georgia, falling 8-1 to four-time NAIA national champions Georgia Gwinnett before bouncing back with a 9-0 win over Rose-Hulman.

"The great thing about tennis is that you often get to play again the next day," said head coach Chuck Kriese. "We needed to be able to play today and get a win. We put in a very tough performance against Georgia Gwinnett, who have won multiple NAIA national championships. Their ball striking is good enough to hang with anybody, but doing the right things at the right time has to be learned if we are going to continue to make improvements. The team is coming along. The guys are training hard, they're working hard, and the pain from losing Friday was something we had to deal with. The beautiful thing is that if you can bounce back and get back off the deck, pain is what teaches you the most important lessons of sport."

Georgia Gwinnett Match: GGC 8, The Citadel 1
The day started with the Bulldogs (6-12) falling 8-1 to Georgia Gwinnett (11-0), the top-ranked team in NAIA and four-time national champions.

The Grizzlies took two of the doubles points off matching 8-0 victories at No. 1 and No. 2 doubles. Gilad Berman and Ayed Zatar defeated Noah Nawabi and Gavin Stewart at No. 1 while F. Herrera Duran and Sergio Valinotti bested Jack Pyritz and Roy Hobson.

Matthew Henson and Will Graham took down Gregor Hutterer and Serge Becerra at No. 3 doubles.

The Grizzlies then swept through singles action without dropping a set. Berman defeated Nawabi 6-0, 6-1 at No. 1 and Mika Kosonen claimed a 6-0, 6-1 victory over Graham at No. 6 singles.

Becerra defeated Pyritz 6-1, 6-0 at No. 3 singles and Sergio Valinotti bested Hobson 6-3, 6-0 at No. 5 singles. At No. 4, Duran defeated Stewart 6-4, 6-0, ending his stretch of six straight wins. The match with Georgia Gwinnett ended with Zatar taking the No. 2 singles point 6-4, 6-2 over Henson.

Rose-Hulman Match: The Citadel 9, Rose-Hulman 0
The Bulldogs bounced back nicely in the day's second match with a clean sweep of Rose-Hulman (1-2).

Nawabi and Stewart claimed No. 1 doubles over Ian Landwehr and Austin Perry 8-5 with Henson and Graham claiming the No. 2 doubles point 8-2 over Andre Adam and Cam Metzger. Hobson and Pyritz rounded out the second match's doubles points with an 8-4 win over Andrew Schiffman and Brendan Goldacker.

In singles action, Nawabi defeated Landwehr 7-6, 6-3 at No. 1, Henson defeated Metzger 6-1, 6-4 at No. 2 and Pyritz won 4-6, 6-2, 6-1 over Adam at No. 3 singles. Stewart got back to his winning ways with a 6-2, 6-2 victory over Schiffman in No. 4 singles action, Hobson defeated Perry 6-2, 6-2 at No. 5 and Graham bested Goldacker 6-1, 6-3 in No. 6 singles action.

UP NEXT
The Bulldogs will remain in Atlanta tomorrow as they take on Point and Oglethorpe on Sunday, Feb. 25.

For more information and score updates on The Citadel men's tennis team, follow @CitadelOlympic on Twitter or visit CitadelSports.com.