Men’s Tennis Upends Birmingham-Southern and Jacksonville State

Birmingham, Ala. -- Radford University finished 2-0 in Alabama this weekend, downing provisional Big South member Birmingham Southern, 4-3 and Jacksonville State, 4-2 on Sunday. With the wins, the Highlanders extended their winning streak to three matches and improve to 5-3 on the season.

Radford University swept the No.'s three through six singles to upend Birmingham-Southern's men's tennis team, 4-3, Sunday morning at the BSC Tennis Complex. The Highlanders clinched the match on Dominic Soeur's (Herndon, Va.) 1-6, 7-6 (4), 7-6 (5) marathon victory at the No. 5 singles win over BSC's Brandon Johnson.

Birmingham-Southern took the doubles point behind an 8-2 win at No. 1 by Nils Hanchen and Richard Turner over Brandon Johnson (Roanoke, Va.) and Joakim Arhammar (Sollentuna, Sweden). BSC's No. 3 doubles tandem of Johnson and Adam Kolasa also earned an 8-5 win over Soeur and Robel Mengisteab (Kista, Sweden). Radford’s No. 2 doubles of Andre’ Cavaco (Faro, Portugal) and Arthur Vasarevic (Zagreb, Croatia) downed BSC’s Eric Baumgardner and Kyle Weidman, 8-4.

After BSC’s Hanchen and Eric Baumgardner took No. 1 and No. 2 singles matches, respectively, from Johnson and Arhammar, the Highlanders swept the other singles matches to record the win. Cavaco began the comeback for the Highlanders with a tough, 7-5, 7-6 (6) victory over Turner in the No. 3 singles. Vasarevic and Mengisteab followed with convincing victories over Weidman and Kolasa respectively before Soeur pulled out his three set win over Johnson.

The match was partially played on Saturday evening and delayed by rain until Sunday morning.

Against Jacksonville State, the Highlanders earned the doubles point after the #2 and #3 picked up wins. Cavaco and Vasarevic downed Raphael Rodriguez and Rodney Rupson, 9-8, while Soeur and Mengisteab downed Toby Bourke and Vedran Sirola, 8-6.

In singles play, Arhammar defeated Atruo Nieto, 6-1, 6-4 at No. 2. Vasarevic and Mengisteab sealed the victory for Radford with wins at the No. 4 and 6 matches.

The Highlanders return home for a match on March 1 when they host Appalachian State at 1 p.m.

Radford 4, BSC 3

Singles
1. Nils Hanchen (BSC) def. Brandon Johnson (RU), 6-0, 6-0
2. Eric Baumgardner (BSC) def. Joakim Arhammar (RU), 5-7, 7-6 (4), 7-6
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3. Andre’ Cavaco (RU) def. Richard Turner (BSC), 7-5, 7-6 (6)
4. Arthur Vasarevic (RU) def. Kyle Weidman (BSC), 6-1, 6-2
5. Dominic Soeur (RU) def. Ben Johnson (BSC), 1-6, 7-6 (4), 7-6 (5)
6. Robel Mengisteab (RU) def. Adam Kolasa (BSC), 6-2, 6-0

Doubles
1. Hanchen/Turner (BSC) def. Johnson/Arhammar (RU), 8-2
2. Cavaco/Vasarevic (RU) def. Baumgardner/Weidman (BSC), 8-4
3. Johnson/Kolasa (BSC) def. Soeur/Mengisteab (RU), 8-5

Radford 4, JSU 2

Singles
1. Ruben Herrera (JSU) def. Brandon Johnson (RU), 6-1, 6-2
2. Joakim Arhammar (RU) def. Arturo Nieto (JSU), 6-1, 6-4
3. Andre' Cavaco (RU) led Raphael Rodriguez (JSU), 6-4, 5-2
4. Arthur Vasarevic (RU) def. Rodney Rupson (JSU), 6-0, 6-1
5. Vedran Sirola (JSU) def. Dominic Soeur (RU), 6-1, 6-3
6. Robel Mengisteab (RU) def. Toby Bourke (JSC), 7-5, 7-5

Doubles
1. Herrera/Nieto (JSU) def. Johnson/Arhammar (RU), 8-4
2. Cavaco'/Vasarevic (RU) def. Rodriguez/Rupson (JSU), 9-8
3. Soeur/Mengisteab (RU) def. Bourke/Sirola (JSU), 8-6