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BURLINGTON, N.C. — Top-seeded N.C. Wesleyan College edged third-seeded Averett 5-4 in the USA South Conference championship on Sunday at the Burlington Tennis Center.
N.C. Wesleyan (13-0) sealed the narrow victory with a win at the No. 6 singles position. The Battling Bishops earn the conference’s automatic NCAA bid.
Although it didn’t clinch the win, the key victory for N.C. Wesleyan came at the No. 1 singles spot. The Bishops’ Antti Saari won the first set 6-1, but Averett’s
Juuso Tapanainen came back to force a third set with a 6-3 win in the second. Saari took the deciding set 6-4.
Saari’s victory gave N.C .Wesleyan a 4-2 advantage over Averett (11-7) at the time. The Cougars got a 6-2, 1-6, 6-3 win from
Dean Loock at the No. 2 singles and a 6-3, 6-2 victory from
Marcelo Diaz at the No. 4 singles to tie the score at 4-4 until the Bishops won the No. 6 singles match.
Averett also got a straight sets singles win from
Xavier Ruiz at the No. 3 position and a doubles win from Ruiz and Diaz.
The Cougars placed three players — Loock, Ruiz and Tapanainen — on the all-tournament team.
2009 Men's All-Tournament Team
Dean Loock, Averett
Fred Lumongo, NC Wesleyan
Xavier Ruiz, Averett
Anton Filanov, NC Wesleyan
Jusso Tapanainen, Averett
Antti Saari, NC Wesleyan MVP