CHARLESTON, S.C. – The Citadel men's tennis team dropped a pair of hard-fought matches Sunday at the Jack Adams Tennis Center.

The Bulldog netters began the day with a 5-2 loss in Southern Conference action to Chattanooga. The 'Dogs then took Marist down to the wire, falling 4-3.

Match Information
Location: Charleston, S.C. (Jack Adams Tennis Center)
Match 1 Final Score: Chattanooga 5, The Citadel 2
Match 2 Final Score: Marist 4, The Citadel 3
Records: The Citadel (8-20, 0-3 SoCon), Chattanooga (10-7, 1-0 SoCon), Marist (4-7)

Match 1 – 10 a.m., vs. Chattanooga

• The day began with a Southern Conference match between the Bulldogs and Chattanooga. The Mocs took the doubles point with a clean sweep of all three matchups. Willem van Zyl and Gavin Stewart managed to win four games at No. 1 doubles, while Roy Hobson and Josiah Schainblatt took three games at No. 3.
• In singles action, Stewart and freshman Phillip Quinn claimed the No. 5 and No. 6 singles points with two well-contested matchups.
• Stewart won his No. 5 match 7-6, 6-0 over Pablo Llebeili.
• After falling behind in the first set, Quinn bounced back to win the second and third sets 6-4, 6-3 at No. 6.
• At No. 4 singles, Noah Nawabi took the first set, 6-3, over Simon Bustamante, but the Moc went on to clinch the point by winning the second and third sets 6-4, 6-2.
• Van Zyl also took his No. 3 singles match to three sets, claiming the first set 6-1 before Kerim Hyatt bounced back to lock up the matchup 7-5, 6-3 in the second and third.

Match 1 Results
Doubles
1. Kerim Hyatt / Simon Bustamante (UTC) def. Willem van Zyl / Gavin Stewart (Citadel) 6-4
2. Niklas Gerdes / Tomas Rodriguez (UTC) def. Noah Nawabi / Phillip Quinn (Citadel) 6-0
3. Pablo Llebeili / Luke Plaisted (UTC) def. Roy Hobson / Josiah Schainblatt (Citadel) 6-3

Singles
1. Gerdes (UTC) def. Hobson (Citadel) 6-4, 6-2
2. Rodriguez (UTC) def. Jack Pyritz (Citadel) 6-1, 6-1
3. Hyatt (UTC) def. van Zyl (Citadel) 1-6, 7-5, 6-4
4. Bustamante (UCT) def. Nawabi (Citadel) 3-6, 6-4, 6-2
5. Stewart (Citadel) def. Llebeili (UTC) 7-6, 6-0
6. Quinn (Citadel) def. Jackob Marshall (UTC) 4-6, 6-4, 6-3


Match 2 – 3 p.m., vs. Marist

• The Citadel wrapped up the weekend with another close match, this time falling 4-3 to Marist.
• The Red Foxes managed to win the doubles point behind victories at No. 2 and No. 3, but van Zyl and Stewart avoided the clean sweep with an 8-6 win at No. 1.
• In singles action, Quinn improved to 14-11 in singles action by claiming the No. 5 singles point in straight sets. The Dallas, Texas native defeated Kian Yazdi 6-1, 6-0.
• Sophomore Will Graham added to the Bulldogs' point total with a three-set victory at No. 6 singles. Graham won the first set 6-3, but dropped the second, 6-1, to Carlos Moreno. Graham bounced back in the final set to secure the point, 6-2.
• The Citadel's final point of the afternoon came in the form of a 6-1, 6-1 win by van Zyl at No. 3 singles over Piotr Sowinski.
• Hobson managed to take six games at No. 1 singles from Lars Schouten, but ultimately fell 6-3, 6-3.
• Stewart also took six games at No. 4 from John Oxner, but the Red Fox took the point 6-4, 6-2.
• Jack Pyritz rounded out the scoring by taking four games from Christopher Gladden, falling 6-1, 6-3.

Match 2 Results
Doubles
1. Willem van Zyl / Gavin Stewart (Citadel) def. Carlos Moreno / Piotr Sowinski (Marist) 8-6
2. Christopher Gladden / John Oxner (Marist) def. Roy Hobson / Josiah Schainblatt (Citadel) 8-3
3. Lars Schouten / Jack Sequerth (Marist) def. Will Graham / Jack Pyritz (Citadel) 8-3

Singles
1. Schouten (Marist) def. Hobson (Citadel) 6-3, 6-3
2. Gladden (Marist) def. Pyritz (Citadel) 6-1, 6-3
3. van Zyl (Citadel) def. Sowinski (Marist) 6-1, 6-1
4. Oxner (Marist) def. Stewart (Citadel) 6-4, 6-2
5. Phillip Quinn (Citadel) def. Kian Yazdi (Marist) 6-1, 6-0
6. Graham (Citadel) def. Moreno (Marist) 6-3, 1-6, 6-2

QUOTABLES FROM COACH KRIESE
"We are taking just about every team we play into the deep pressure zones of the matches. For this I am pleased as a coach because in order to be good under pressure you have to be able to get into the pressure zones at threshold moments," said head coach Chuck Kriese."We are presently average at being able to carry leads and finish the job. I care about and believe in this team so much that if this was mid-January, I feel that we would be going to the moon by now, but progress is inch-by-inch and nothing else. The team will move forward. That's all I can say.

"Give credit to both Chattanooga and Marist. The first match was a real barnburner that came down to the final three singles matches. The match in the afternoon was disappointing because I think that our doubles were very poor and that put us under the gun all afternoon. We did fight back and ended up with it being very close at the end, but credit goes to the other team today. For now we will keep on keeping on and keep moving forward."

UP NEXT
The Bulldog netmen will next host Mercer and USC Sumter on Friday, March 22.

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