UAB Withstands Furious Winthrop Rally in Rock Hill, SC to Win 4-3

Lucas Dirube won a third set tie breaker at number three singles and Alabama-Birmingham withstood a furious rally by the Winthrop Eagles to win their match at Memorial Courts in in Rock Hill, SC on February 8, 4-3.

UAB players warming up prior to their match with Winthrop. A great day for tennis in South Carolina with clear blue skies and the temperature rose to 55 degrees.

Lucas Dirube of UAB with a return during the number one doubles match.

Peter Nagovnak and Dylan Comerford of Winthrop won the number ones doubles match for Winthrop 6-0, as the experimental NCAA rules were still being demonstrated. UAB won the matches on courts two and three and won the doubles point.

Yuta Hirokawa of Winthrop chases down a ball in the first set of his number one singles match versus Chris Helliar.

Chris Helliar with the backhand winner.

Helliar wins the match 6-2, 6-2 and UAB takes a 2-0 lead.

Steven Patrick of Winthrop drives a backhand return in his number two singles match against Rafael Rondino.

Rafael Rondino of UAB defeats Steven Patrick in straight sets 6-5, 6-2 and gives UAB a 3-0 lead. At this point it looked like lights out for Winthrop.

Winthrop storms back on courts four, five and six to tie the match at 3. At this point, court three looks like it will be easily won by UAB.

Dylan Comerford of Winthrop, after being down 4-1, storms back to tie the match at 5-5 and send it to a tie breaker.

Lucas Dirube of UAB held off Comerford in the tie break and UAB raised its record to 2-2 on the season. Winthrop fell to 1-5 on the season.

At the end of the match, I headed into Charlotte to see the Bobcats host the San Antonio Spurs in an NBA game. Charlotte lost a close one, 104-100 and fell to 22-29 for the season. A great day for sports in the Charlotte area.