CHARLESTON, SC—The South Carolina State men's tennis team captured their first victory of the season in a, 5-2, victory over College of Charleston Saturday (Feb. 17^th) at CofC Tennis Center at Patriots Points.

This was the first victory over College of Charleston in almost a decade.

"Our whole team fought really hard today. With our top two guys out of the lineup for an extended time l told the rest of the guys they had to step up and they did against a very good College of Charleston team," said head men's coach Hardeep Judge."

"Our freshman Aleska Daskalovic, Juan Ramirez and Marcelo Rodriguez continue to improve as they are getting adjusted to hard court tennis, "said Judge. "We had not played College of Charleston since 2007 and our only win against them came in 2003 so it was a big moment for these guys today."

South Carolina State jumped on the board early claiming the doubles point in a pair of 6-2,6-4 victories over the Cougars.

In singles action, at the No.1 spot it was Daskalovic def. Juan Estevarena, 6-4,7-5; at the No. 4 spot it was senior Alexsander Stupar def. Ksawery Pociej, 3-6, 6-2, 6-1; at the No. 5 spot Rodriguez def. Fernando Ramirez, 6-2,6-3 and senior Edgar Diaz defeated Easton Thomas, 4-6,6-2,6-2 at the No. 6 spot.

The Bulldogs improve to 1-2 overall, while College of Charleston falls to 2-2 on the season.

South Carolina State returns to action on Tuesday (Feb. 20^th ) against St. Johns University in Charleston, SC. First serve is 1 p.m.

For more information on South Carolina State Athletics visit www.scsuathletics.com or call the Office of Athletic Media Relations at (803) 536-7060.
 
 
SC State 5, CofC 2
SINGLES
No. 1 - Aleska Daskalovic (SCSU) def. Juan Estevarena (CofC), 6-4, 7-5.
No. 2 - Brian Henning (CofC) def. Juan Ramirez (SCSU), 6-2, 5-7, 7-5.
No. 3 - Ryan Khan (CofC) def. Cyprian Owczarz (SCSU), 6-1, 6-1.
No. 4 - Aleksander Stupar (SCSU) def. Ksawery Pociej (CofC), 3-6, 6-2, 6-2.
No. 5 - Juan Ramirez (SCSU) def. Fernando Ramirez Lascurian (CofC), 6-2, 6-4.
No. 6 - Edgar Diaz (SCSU) def. Easton Thomas (CofC), 6-4, 6-1, 6-2.
Order of Finish: 5, 3, 1, 4, 6, 2
 
DOUBLES
No. 1 - Estevarena/Henning (CofC) def. Vitek/Ramirez (SCSU), 6-2.
No. 2 - Daskalovic/Stupar (SCSU) def. Pociej/Dabbabi (CofC), 6-2.
No. 3 - Rodriguez/Diaz (SCSU) def. Thomas/Angradi (CofC), 7-5.