Final Stats

CONWAY - The Coastal Carolina men's tennis team ensured itself at least a share of the Big South Conference regular season title on Sunday as the Chanticleers defeated Winthrop by a commanding 6-1 margin at the Coastal Carolina Tennis Complex.

The Chants (11-5) currently occupy first place in the Big South with a 6-1 league record and one match remaining against a conference opponent. Liberty, which has already wrapped up its league schedule, is in second at 6-2. A Coastal win over Radford on Wednesday will give the Chants the title outright, while a loss will mean a split with the Flames. If a tie does occur, Liberty would be awarded the No. 1 seed in the conference tournament as the Flames own the head-to-head tiebreaker.

The regular season conference title is the fourth in men's program history, and second in the past three years after the 2013 Chants captured both the regular season and tournament championships.

Sunday's match began with a tightly contested doubles round that saw Coastal prevail on the first and third courts to win the opening point.

The Winthrop pair of Steven Patrick and Tremayne Mitchell knocked off Renan Samed and Pedro Leme on the second court, but Vuk Velickovic and Garik Yedigarian bested Michael Chen and Josh Ryan 8-6 at No. 3. Philippe Tsangarides and Kaue Pereira then outlasted Dylan Comerford and Peter Nagovnak 8-7 at No. 1.

Coastal effectively put the match away in singles, winning five of the remaining six points, including three in straight sets by Velickovic, Yedigarian and Al-Mutawa.

Tsangarides, playing at No. 1, split the first two sets with Mitchell before securing the point with a third-set tiebreaker. Samed, meanwhile, recovered from a 4-6 loss in the first set at No. 6 to take the final two 6-1, 6-1 over Chen.

Comerford was Winthrop's lone singles winner, edging Pereira in three sets at No. 2.

First serve for Wednesday's match versus the Highlanders is set for 1 p.m. at the Coastal Carolina Tennis Complex. The Chants will then prepare for the Big South Tournament, which begins April 18 in Asheville, N.C.

Coastal Carolina 6, Winthrop 1
Singles competition
1. TSANGARIDES, P. (COASTALM) def. MITCHELL, Tremayne (WU) 6-2, 3-6, 10-1
2. COMERFORD, Dylan (WU) def. Pereira, Kaue (COASTALM) 2-6, 6-2, 6-1
3. Velickovic, Vuk (COASTALM) def. PATRICK, Steven (WU) 6-0, 6-4
4. Yedigarian, Garik (COASTALM) def. NAGOVNAK, Peter (WU) 7-5, 6-1
5. Al-Mutawa, Jabor (COASTALM) def. FRANZANTI, Ruben (WU) 6-4, 6-3
6. Samed, Renan (COASTALM) def. CHEN, Michael (WU) 4-6, 6-1, 6-1

Doubles competition
1. TSANGARIDES, P./PEREIRA, Kaue (COASTALM) def. COMERFORD, Dylan/NAGOVNAK, Peter (WU) 8-7
2. PATRICK, Steven/MITCHELL, Tremayne (WU) def. SAMED, Renan/LEME, Pedro (COASTALM) 8-4
3. VELICKOVIC, Vuk/YEDIGARIAN, Garik (COASTALM) def. CHEN, Michael/RYAN, Josh (WU) 8-6

Match Notes:
Winthrop 12-8, 5-3
Coastal Carolina 11-5, 6-1