Thursday, May 3, 2007

NO. 8 BARRY DEFEATS TUSCULUM MEN 5-0 IN NCAA TENNIS

MIAMI SHORES, Fla. --- The eighth-ranked Barry University men's tennis team posted a 5-0 win over Tusculum College, Thursday morning in the opening match of the 2007 NCAA Division II Southeast Region-2 Tournament, held at the Buccaneer Tennis Complex.

Barry (14-2) advances to the second round where the Buccaneers will host the winner of Thursday's Rollins College/Presbyterian College match on Friday at 9:30 a.m.

Barry swept all three doubles matches, including an 8-1 pro set win at the No. 1 flight, as Andrew Sharnov and Roman Werschel (ranked No. 18 nationally in doubles) defeated the TC duo of Sergio Espinosa and Carlos Garcia (ranked No. 8 in the region). Tusculum's No. 3 duo of Nicholas Bigler and Julien Jacob jumped out to a 3-2 lead, but Barry's Dirk Benninghaus and Manuel Lauter won four of the next five games to win 8-4.

Sharnov posted the most impressive win of the day as he defeated Garcia 6-0, 6-0 at No. 3 singles. For Garcia, it was his first singles loss of the year as he ends the season with an impressive 18-1 worksheet.

Benninghaus recorded the fifth and deciding point with a 6-1, 6-1 win over Leo Guaycurus at No. 5 singles.

Tusculum ends its season at 15-7 overall while advancing to the NCAA postseason for the fifth time in the last six years.

- NCAA -

No. 8 Barry 5, Tusculum 0
Singles
1 - Sergio Espinosa (TC) vs. Patrick Rittenauer (BU)	DNF
2 - Nicolas Bigler (TC) vs. Roman Werschel (BU)	DNF
3 - Andrew Sharnov (BU) def. Carlos Garcia	6-0, 6-0
4 - Henrique Rodrigues (TC) vs. Manuel Lauter (BU)	DNF
5 - Dirk Benninghaus (BU) def. Leo Guaycurus	6-1, 6-1
6 - Hunter Beal (TC) vs. Andrew Thornton (BU)	DNF
Doubles
1 - Sharnov/Werschel (BU) def. Espinosa/Garcia	8-1
2 - Ritternauer/Rodriguez (BU) def. Guaycurus/Rodrigues	8-2
3 - Benninghaus/Lauter (BU) def. Julien Jacob/Bigler	8-4
Records: Tusculum 15-7; Barry 14-2