Box Score BOONE, N.C. - App State men's tennis started the 2020 spring with a 1-1 finish, blanking Tennessee State before falling to Lipscomb.
The Mountaineers will look for a 2-1 start to the campaign when it faces Chattanooga tomorrow at 4 p.m. (ET).
With the win over the Tigers, the Mountaineers won their first season opener since a 7-0 victory over Liberty during the 2010-11 campaign.
App State 4, Tennessee State 0
The Mountaineers got off to a strong start with the doubles point as App swept the first portion of the match.
Alessio Azzalini and
Campbell Stone played in their first spring match as a duo and didn't disappoint as the third pairing in the lineup, defeating Kato Richardson and Larry Sloan, 6-0. The top duo of
Milo Bargeron and
Zion Heaven dealt Leandros Misdrachis/Stefan Koruga a convincing 6-1 defeat to clinch doubles and give the Black and Gold a 1-0 lead.
The top three players in
Matvey Radionov (No. 1), Bargeron (No. 2) and
Alex Pavkovich (No. 3) captured the three-needed singles contests to win and seal the victory. Radionov earned a straight-set victory, 6-2, 6-2, against Misdrachis to give App a 2-0 advantage. Bargeron continued his solid outing with a 7-5, 6-0 toppling against Maksims Kazijevs. Clinching the contest was senior
Alex Pavkovich, who came back from a one-set deficit against Koruga. Pavkovich fell in the first set before coming back to clinch the second frame in a tiebreaker, 7-6 (7-2) and then won the match in the final set, 6-1.
Lipscomb 6, App State 1
This time around, the Mountaineers weren't able to get off to the start they wanted. Lipscomb claimed a 1-0 lead after tallying the doubles point.
In singles, the Bisons took control claiming five of the six matches to pull out the win.
Highlighting the final contest of the day for App was Azzalini. The freshman posted his first collegiate dual win over Gonzalo Garcia-Nieto in three sets. Azzalini picked up a first frame advantage before Garcia-Nieto tied up the battle in the next set. The Rome native for App won the third-set tiebreaker, 1-0, (10-8).
