Davidson Hosts South Carolina Upstate

I had my first chance to see the Davidson men's tennis team play on Saturday in a non-conference match versus South Carolina Upstate. I saw the USC Upstate Spartans about a month ago in Atlanta. They played a tough match against Georgia Tech before going down 5-2. I had a feeling they would be a tough opponent for Davidson and based on what I saw it might end up being a tough year for the Wildcats.

The doubles turned out to be a landslide win for the Spartans. Davidson seemed to play very carelessly on court three and were shut out 8-0. The court two duo for Davidson did not fare much better and lost 8-2. The Davidson ones got a few more games but went down 8-4 for the USC sweep. I was hoping it might be a little closer in singles, as it sometimes can be after a doubles rout.

When Davidson lost the first set of each match on one through four I thought this one would be over pretty quickly. Thanks to Eric Noble of Davidson, who regrouped on court three and came back for a 3-6, 6-3, 6-1 win, I did not see a shutout. But it was the match on court four that was the most entertaining of the day.

Calum Gee of Davidson went down a few breaks in the first set and battled back before dropping it 6-4. His opponent, Javier Tori, was in a zone and playing very good tennis. Tori has a great two-handed backhand and he used it very effectively in that first set. Gee got an early break on Tori in the second set and Tori seemed to be forcing his shots a little more. Gee went up 5-0 before Tori got two games back. Gee then closed out the set 6-2. Tori opened the third facing three break points and got them all back. The momentum swung his way when he won the first game. Tori broke Gee and regained his confidence in a big way. He went on to win the third set 6-3 and was very vocal as he closed it out. It was a nice comeback, as I wasn't sure he could rebound if he had dropped the first game.

With this win, USC Upstate moved to 5-2 on the season and I think they will be a leader in the Atlantic Sun conference. Davidson dropped to 2-5 and I think they are going to have a tough time in the Southern Conference.

Time.