Georgia Southern men's tennis senior Judson Blair and sophomore Matthew Mitchell each collected three-set singles wins to help the Eagles prevail, 4-3, over visiting Kennesaw State on Wednesday afternoon at the Wallis Tennis Center.
The Eagles (2-4) earned the win in their 2024 home opener and also collected their second straight victory, avenging a 5-2 loss to the Owls (2-2) last season in Kennesaw.
Georgia Southern got out to a quick start in doubles as Judson Blair and Pierre Mouesca defeated Mikolaj Lis and Hugo Salmeron, 6-0, at No. 2 doubles. But the Owls picked up 6-4 wins at No. 1 and No. 3 doubles to claim the doubles point.
In singles, the Eagles' Dimitris Paliouras notched a 6-1, 6-4 win at No. 2 singles over Salmeron to tie the match up at 1-all, but the Owls would win in straight sets at No. 1 singles to take a 2-1 lead.
The Eagles tied things up at 2-all with Pol del Castillo's 7-5, 6-4 win over Harvey Conway at No. 3 singles, and all three remaining singles matches went to third sets.
KSU took a 3-2 lead with a win at No. 5 singles, but Mitchell shook off a first-set tiebreaker loss to win 6-7, 6-4, 6-3 over Lis at No. 6 singles to even things up at 3-3.
Blair also dropped his first set at No. 4 singles and had to survive a second-set tiebreaker to push his match against Anthony Weingarten to a third set. After an early break, Blair rolled off four straight games to clinch the victory for the Eagles, 3-6, 7-6, 6-3.
"Super proud of my guys," Georgia Southern head men's tennis coach Andrew Goodwin said. "This is an important match, like every other one is, but the guys really remember last year not getting it done against Kennesaw. We faced some real tough adversity at the beginning of this season, but the guys have really stepped up. It hardened them and they toughed it out. You have a guy at No. 6, Matthew Mitchell, who didn't play a singles match before this year come back in a dire situation. And you have Judson Blair, with the match on the line down a break in the third set, wins four games in a row. I couldn't be prouder of the guys and the fight they showed."
RESULTS
Singles
1. Raul Garcia (KSU) def. Pierre Mouesca (GS) 6-3, 6-4
2. Dimitris Paliouras (GS) def. Hugo Salmeron (KSU) 6-1, 6-4
3. Pol del Castillo (GS) def. Harvey Conway (KSU) 7-5, 6-4
4. Judson Blair (GS) def. Anthony Weingarten (KSU) 3-6, 7-6, 6-3
5. Sam Baldwin (KSU) def. Laurent Julia Calac (GS) 2-6, 6-3, 6-3
6. Matthew Mitchell (GS) def. Mikolaj Lis (KSU) 6-7, 6-4, 6-3
Doubles
1. Harvey Conway.Raul Garcia (KSU) def. Pol del Castillo/Dimitris Paliouras (GS) 6-4
2. Judson Blair/Pierre Mouesca (GS) def. Mikolaj Lis/Hugo Salmeron (KSU) 6-0
3. Joel Gibson/Anthony Weingarten (KSU) def. Laurent Julia Calac/Matthew Mitchell (GS) 6-4
