ORLANDO, Fla.– The No. 34 ranked Hobart tennis team grabbed two victories on Sunday at the USTA National Tennis Center. The Statesmen defeated Oglethorpe University 7-2 and Goucher College 8-1 to move to 3-3 on the season. Additionally, first-year
Achilleas Kousaridis was named the Liberty League Rookie of the Week after a strong start to spring break.
Kousaridis is 3-0 in singles action and 1-0 in doubles play so far in Florida. He defeated Gianna Esposito 6-0, 6-4, in the No. 4 spot to clinch a 5-4 victory over Hamilton. He added wins over Oglethorpe's Jefferson Page 6-2, 6-3, in the No. 3 spot and Goucher's Unai Laguardia Alvarez 6-0, 3-6, 10-1, in the No. 1 spot. Kousaridis remains undefeated in dual matches this season and is 5-0 in singles play and 1-0 in doubles.
In the Statesmen's matchup with the Stormy Petrels, Hobart won two of three doubles matches. Juniors
Troy Steiner and
Hyat Oyer defeated Zack Raymond and Cameron Burkes 8-3 in the No. 2 spot. In the No. 3 spot, junior
Rahul Vallabhajosula and senior
Winter Fagerberg earned their first dual match win of the season, defeating Oglethorpe's Figge Pernfors and Noah George 8-2.
Hobart handled business in singles action, winning five-of-six matches. In the closest match of the day, senior
Sean Pesin defeated Daniel Cohen 0-6, 6-4, 10-5, in the No. 1 spot to grab his first singles victory of the season. Sophomore
Nick Fischer (6-2, 6-4), Kousaridis (6-2, 6-3), Oyer (6-0, 6-2), and Fagerberg (6-1,6-0) all earned points for the Statesmen in their respective positions.
In an 8-1 win over Goucher on Sunday, Hobart dominated doubles play, earning all three points. Pesin and Fischer grabbed an 8-3 win over Gabe Naftoly and Calis Nguyen in the No. 1 spot to move to 3-3 on the season. Kousaridis and junior
Nick Grosso defeated Angel Cerpa and Benedikt Rummel 8-1 in the No. 2 spot, while sophomores
Jose Martinez Barelles and
Aidan Staunton downed Tadeo Asprella and Jackson Beam 8-0 in the No. 3 spot.
Along with Kousaridis's thrilling win against Laguardia Alvarez in the No. 1 spot, Vallabhajosula earned a dramatic tiebreaker win as well. He defeated Cerpa 6-2, 5-7, 10-8, in the No. 5 spot to earn his first dual match win of the season.
Oyer defeated Naftoly 6-2, 6-2, in the No. 2 spot, while Grosso grabbed a 6-3, 6-4, win over Asprella in the No. 3 spot. Steiner moves to 2-0 on the season in dual match single play after picking up a 6-1, 6-4, win over Nguyen in the No. 4 spot.
UP NEXT:
Hobart will be back in action later this afternoon as it takes on the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire in a nonconference matchup. First serve between the Statesmen and the BluGolds is set for 4 p.m. at the USTA National Tennis Center.
