CONWAY – The Coastal Carolina men's tennis team hosted South Carolina State at the Lynn Stevens Tennis Complex on the campus of Coastal Carolina University on Friday. The two teams competed in two rounds with the Chanticleers winning 16 of 18 matches combined over singles and doubles play.
 
"These guys really had a good showing here on their home courts," said head coach Chris Powers. "It was great to see a veteran group continue to look for ways to improve and seek out the next level of their potential. I believe they feel good about their chances to play their best against some of the best collegiate teams at the regional next weekend."
 
ROUND 1
CCU won the opening round 7-2 with No.1 Zak Talic, No. 5 Daiki Tanabe, and No. 6 Francesco Cori getting straight-set wins in singles play while No. 4 Pyry Hyrkkonen needed all three sets to get the victory.
 
The No. 2 tandem of Gonzalo Achondo and Hyrkkonen got the first point for Coastal in doubles action with a 6-3 victory over Selim Ben Ali Ben Ali and Gerardo Diego Arzaluz while the No. 3 team of Juan Castellanos and Tanabe defeated Joshua Hossfeld and Omer Gorgun 7-5 to pick up the doubles point.
 
ROUND 2
The Chants closed out the day with a perfect 9-0 second round with No. 1 Popov, No. 4 Achondo, No. 5 Castellanos, and No. 6 Tanabe each getting straight-set victories with No. 2 Talic and No. 3 Hyrkkonen needing three sets to dispatch their opponents.
 
In doubles action, CCU swept all three points with the No. 1 team of Hyrkkonen and Achondo getting a 6-3 win over Aleksa Daskalovic and Marcelo Rodriguez. Talic and Popov won 6-2 over Ben Ali and Arzaluz at the second spot while Cori and Tanabe teamed up for the 6-1 win over Hossfeld and Gorgun.
 
Round 1 Results
Singles
Zak Talic (Coastal) def. Aleksa Daskalovic (SCST) 6-4, 6-3
Marcelo Rodrigues (SCST) def. Joel Popov (Coastal) 7-6, 4-6, 6-3
Gonzalo Achondo (Coastal) def. Gerardo Diego Arzaluz (SCST) 6-3, 4-6, 6-1
Pyry Hyrkkonen (Coastal) def. Omer Gorgun (SCST) 7-6, 4-6, 6-3
Daiki Tanabe (Coastal) def. Selim Ben Ali Ben Ali (SCST) 6-1, 6-2
Francesco Cori (Coastal def. Joshua Hossfeld (SCST) 6-1, 6-1
 
Doubles
Daskalovic/Rodriguez (SCST) def. Talic/Popov (Coastal) 6-4
Achondo/Hyrkkonen (Coastal) def. Ben Ali/Arzaluz (SCST) 6-3
Castellanos/Tanabe (Coastal) def. Hossfeld/Gorgun (SCST) 7-5
 
Round 2 Results
Singles
Joel Popov (Coastal) def. Aleksa Daskalovic (SCST) 6-4, 6-4
Zak Talic (Coastal) def. Marcelo Rodrigues (SCST) 6-3, 4-6, 10-6
Pyry Hyrkkonen (Coastal) def. Gerardo Diego Arzaluz (SCST) 6-1, 5-7, 10-7
Gonzalo Achondo (Coastal) def. Omer Gorgun (SCST) 6-0, 6-1
Juan Castellanos (Coastal) def. Selim Ben Ali Ben Ali (SCST) 6-4, 6-2
Daiki Tanabe (Coastal def. Joshua Hossfeld (SCST) 6-0, 6-0
 
Doubles
Achondo/Hyrkkonen (Coastal) def. Daskalovic/Rodriguez (SCST) 6-3
Talic/Popov (Coastal) def. Ben Ali/Arzaluz (SCST) 6-2
Cori/Tanabe (Coastal) def. Hossfeld/Gorgun (SCST) 6-1
 
 
For complete coverage of CCU men's tennis, follow the Chants on social media @CoastalMTennis (Twitter), facebook.com/CCUChanticleers (Facebook), @GoCCUSports (Instagram) or visit the official home of Coastal Carolina Athletics at goccusports.com.