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Radford University Athletics

Home Of The RadFord Highlanders RadFord Highlanders
Demi Taramonlis
3
Spartans UNCG20 (1-2)
4
Winner Radford Men's Tennis RADM (2-1)
Spartans UNCG20
(1-2)
3
Final
4
Radford Men's Tennis RADM
(2-1)
Winner

Match Recap: Men's Tennis |

HIGHLANDERS NOTCH INTENSE VICTORY OVER SPARTANS

RADFORD, Va.- A chilly Wednesday afternoon ended in victory for the Highlanders as they rose past UNC Greensboro, 4-3, thanks to big-time wins by Andres Silva and Demi Taramonlis as well as Yevhen Sirous making the clutch comeback victory in singles play to clinch the match late.

The big day started off with key doubles matches that greatly impacted the final result. Team captains Yevhen Sirous and Rodrigo Magalhaes saw no issues in dispatching their opponents on court two, 6-2. It was the underclassmen who rose to the occasion all match for Radford and that included doubles where the young pair of Silva and Taramonlis fended off a late comeback attempt to seal their match and the doubles point on court one, 6-3.

Sirous' heroics would be in full-force come later in the match with Radford up 3-2 looking for one more court to clinch victory. After dropping his first set on court two, 3-6, Sirous stormed back and took an early lead in the second set 3-0. His opponent Ollie Palmer did not go away quietly as the set was pushed to a tiebreaker where Sirous came out the winner to force a third set. The comeback was completed when Sirous capped off the win with a 6-4 victory in the third set, clinching a victory for the Highlanders.

"Today was a great day," head coach Rob Bareford commented. "UNC Greensboro is always a tough out and we avenged last year's loss. We're getting better each day."

Jumping around to other singles play, the success kept coming from the younger talent with Taramonlis showing no slowing down by plowing through his opponent Hugh Knapp 6-1, 6-2, who was previously unbeaten on court one. Silva also dispatched Roger Rogowski on court four, 6-4, 6-2, with Rogowski mainly playing on court three for the Spartans before moving down to court four for today's match. Silva's victory was his first career victory on court four.

UNC Greensboro would start to mount a comeback headed into the latter-half of the match after the Highlanders took a 3-0 lead. The Spartans pressured the Highlanders by taking leads on courts two, three and six. On court three Rodrgio Magalhaes battled hard in both the first and second sets but came up just short in both bouts. Over on court six Matko Varga struggled in his first set but bounced back strong in set two forcing it to go to a tiebreaker until he ultimately was unable to finish the comeback and UNC Greensboro had its second point.

Konstantinos Raptis took the first set on court five, but Sirous dropped his first set on court two. Both players would see their results flip as Raptis dropped his second set in an intense battle as Sirous battled all the way through to the tie-breaker in order to force a third set with the Highlanders needing just one more court to seal the match sitting with a 3-2 lead.

Sirous came out on top clinching the match for Radford. Raptis finished up his battle on court five ultimately dropping the final set 5-7, but Radford had already sealed the match. Also scrimmaging nearby, Karl Katlaps took care of business with a 6-4, 6-4 victory in a scrimmage match that didn't count towards the team's total.

Many Highlanders improved their season records with Taramonlis moving to 2-0 on the year while on court one. Silva pushed his career record on court four to 1-1 with Sirous getting his first official win of the year on court two. The doubles team of Taramonlis and Silva also increased their overall record this year to 9-1.

This victory also comes as revenge for Radford, with many of last year's athletes going on the road to face UNC Greensboro in 2019 and coming up just short in a reverse result where the Spartans won 4-3. In recent history this is also the Highlanders first ever victory in the short four matches the two squads have faced off with each other.

UP NEXT
Radford will make a quick turn-around and face-off with future Big South foe North Carolina A&T on Friday in another rain make-up match.
 
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