Men's tennis battles rain

Trojans beat South Carolina State, have two matches postponed due to weather

The Troy men’s tennis team faced nail‑biting, tough matches and a few delayed matchups this past week. 

On Thursday, the Trojans scrapped for every point in their close 5-4 victory against South Carolina State. Things started off easy for the Trojans as the doubles duos of Yeray Andres Pastor and Henrique de Brito won 6-2 on court three, and Ryusei Miyazato and Luciano Alcocer added another win of 6-3 on court two. 

When it came to the singles matches, the Bulldogs started to fight back, winning three straight matches. However, the Bulldogs did not hold the upper hand for long. Sophomore Thiago Drozdowski gained a win 7-5, 6-2, and Hiro Sakamoto earned one as well 7-6, 6-3, bringing the game to a 3-3 tie.  

On court five, the battle between Troy’s Stephan Tavares Noale and SCS’s Andrii Borodatiuk decided the match. Noale stumbled in the first set, falling 6-1 before coming back to steal the second set 6-2. He snagged the third set and the match for the Trojans 7-6 to close it out. 

On Friday, the Trojans’ match against Alabama A&M started off rocky. Troy lost the doubles point, giving the Bulldogs the advantage. During singles play, things began to look better for the Trojans as Alcocer, Drozdowski, and Andres Pastor all finished with straight‑set wins.  

Unfortunately, due to poor weather, the rest of the singles matches were suspended in the middle of play on courts one, four and five and will resume on a later date. Troy’s match against UAB, which was supposed to be held Sunday, was also postponed and will be played later. 

Troy will play host to its next home match against Alabama State this Friday, Feb. 27, at 1 p.m.