CHARLOTTE, N.C. – For the second time this season in a men's tennis match between Campbell and Radford, the doubles point proved to be decisive.
Earlier this month, Campbell won the doubles point at Radford and claimed a 4-3 victory en route to the Big South regular season championship.
On Sunday, the second-seeded Highlanders (14-7) claimed the doubles and split the singles match to down top-seeded Campbell (16-6) 4-3 in the Big South Championship at Marion Diehl Park.
"We gave ourselves chances and battled hard all day. They were just a little bit better today and more experienced. This was their third-straight Big South final, and maybe that paid off," said Campbell head coach
David Johnson.
Campbell's
Damien Nezar and
Leon Petko started things with a 6-3 win at No. 1 doubles. However, Radford won at No. 3 7-5 before taking a tiebreaker at the second spot to earn the point.
In singles play, Campbell pulled even with straight-sets wins by
Noe Macquart,
Tomas Balazi and
Pol Otin.
At the fourth position, in what proved to be the deciding point,
Benjamin Maes battled back from one set down, then fended off two match points before eventually falling to Konstantinos Raptis 6-2, 5-7, 6-3.
The Camels, who have reached the Big South title match six times in the last eight seasons, dropped just their second decision in the last 15 matches.
4/24/2022 at Charlotte, NC
(Marion Diehl Park)
Radford 4, Campbell 3
Singles
1. Demis Taramonlis (RAD) def.
Damien Nezar (CAM-M) 6-4, 6-0
2.
Tomas Balazi (CAM-M) def. Guilherme Severin (RAD) 6-4, 7-6 (7-3)
3.
Pol Otin (CAM-M) def. Andres Silva (RAD) 6-4, 7-6 (7-5)
4. Konstantinos Raptis (RAD) def.
Benjamin Maes (CAM-M) 6-2, 5-7, 6-3
5. Aditya Balsekar (RAD) def.
Robin Angles (CAM-M) 3-6, 6-2, 6-0
6. Noe MacQuart (CAM-M) def. Robert Hagen (RAD) 6-4, 6-2
Doubles
1.
Tomas Balazi/
Leon Petko (CAM-M) def. Demis Taramonlis/Andres Silva (RAD) 6-3
2. Guilherme Severin/Konstantinos Raptis (RAD) def.
Damien Nezar/
Benjamin Maes (CAM-M) 7-6 (7-3)
3. Aditya Balsekar/Robert Hagen (RAD) def.
Ted Williams/
Gustavs Lukstins (CAM-M) 7-5
Records: Radford 14-7; Campbell 16-6
Order of finish: Doubles (1,3,2); Singles (1,6,5,3,2,4)
Big South Championship Final
Time: 3:15
