CONWAY, S.C. – The Coastal Carolina men's tennis team swept doubles and won five of the six singles bouts to defeat USC Upstate 6-1 in the 2020 spring home-opener on Saturday afternoon at the Stevens Tennis Complex.
 
The Chants move to 1-1 on the spring season, while the short-handed Spartans fall to 0-2 on the year.
 
Coastal picked up a forfeit win at the No. 3 doubles position, but it didn't matter as the Chants won each of the other two doubles matches to take the early 1-0 lead over USC Upstate.
 
CCU's Zak Talic and Joel Popov cruised past Upstate's Fernando Bernardes and Frederick Sydow 6-3 at the No. 1 spot, while the team of Gonzalo Achondo and Pyry Hyrkkonen held on for the 7-5 win over Leon Roider and Tom Russwurm at No. 2.
 
In singles action, the Chants took advantage of a forfeit at the No. 6 slot to take a 2-0 lead.
 
Daiki Tanabe added to the CCU lead with his 6-1, 6-0 victory over Alex Muehr at the No. 5 position, only to see the Spartans earn a 6-2, 6-2 win at the No. 2 spot to cut the Coastal lead to 3-1 with four matches to go.
 
The Chants then picked up a 6-1, 7-6 win from Achondo over Sydow at No. 3 to put the home team up 4-1 and seal their first team win of the spring season.
 
Talic added a 6-3, 7-6 win over Bernardes at No. 1, while Popov capped off the CCU win with a 6-2, 6-4 victory over Russwurm at No. 4.
 
The Chants will return to the courts next week, as Coastal will host Campbell next Saturday, Feb. 1, at 1 p.m. ET.

 Coastal Carolina 6, USC Upstate 1
Doubles

1. Joel Popov/Zak Talic (CCU) def. Fernando Bernardes/Frederick Sydow (Upstate) – 6-3
2. Pyry Hyrkkonen/Gonzalo Achondo (CCU) def. Leon Roider/Tom Russwurm (Upstate) – 7-5
3. Daiki Tanabe/Francesco Cori (CCU) win by forfeit

 
Singles

1. Zak Talic (CCU) def. Fernando Bernardes (Upstate) – 6-3, 7-6
2. Leon Roider (Upstate) def. Pyry Hyrkkonen (CCU) – 6-2, 6-2
3. Gonzalo Achondo (CCU) def. Frederick Sydow (Upstate) – 6-1, 7-6
4. Joel Popov (CCU) def. Tom Russwurm (Upstate) – 6-2, 6-4
5. Daiki Tanabe (CCU) def. Alex Muehr (Upstate) – 6-1, 6-0
6. Francesco Cori (CCU) win by forfeit

 
Order of finish: Doubles (3, 1, 2); Singles (6, 5, 2, 3, 1, 4)

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 www.GoCCUSports.com.