WINTER PARK, Fla. (October 10, 2021) - The Rollins men's tennis team had a successful, albeit unorthodox, weekend at home as they hosted athletes from Eckerd College and Southeastern University at the annual C.L. Varner Invitational.
The initial draw was supposed to be one doubles bracket and two flights of singles play. Rain and lightning on Friday delayed a handful of matches, followed by a number of injuries and illnesses. As such, the singles brackets were scrapped and turned into a two-match per player hidden dual event. The doubles bracket remained intact, with Rollins claiming first place.
Denis Golubev and
Charlie Putrino were seeded first overall, and defeated their fellow Tars teammates
Phillip McMurray and
David Polo in their first match. In the semi-finals, however, they were upset by Victor de Oliveira and Diego Menendez of Southeastern. The Fire teammates had also taken out another Tars duo,
Moritz Stenzer and
Alexandru Bucurescu, en route to the final. On the bottom of the bracket,
Andrea Brignacca and
Efe Comu made light work of their competition, winning 6-1 and 6-3 in their first two matches. Before facing Oliveria and Menedez in the final, Brignacca had to withdraw due to injury. He was replaced by Golubev, who teamed up with Comu to defeat the Southeastern pair by a score of 7-5 to take first place in doubles.
Varner Invitational Doubles Draw
Singles Results:
- Denis Golubev - Win 6-4, 6-2 vs. Federico Barbon (Southeastern); Win 6-3, 6-4 vs. Victor de Oliveira (Southeastern)
- Efe Comu - Win 6-4, 6-3 vs. Roy Stepanov (Southeastern); Win 6-3, 6-3 vs. Federico Barbon (Southeastern)
- Alexandru Bucurescu - Loss 6-3, 4-6, 12-14 vs. Christian Della Cioppa (Southeastern); Loss 1-6, 2-6 vs. Roy Stepanov (Southeastern)
- Moritz Stenzer - Loss 4-6, 3-6 vs. Theodore Preiswerk (Southeastern); Loss 2-6, 1-6 vs. Christian Della Cioppa (Southeastern)
- Phillip McMurray - Win 6-4, 6-4 vs. Tyler Glowaki (Southeastern); Win 6-4, 6-1 vs. Nadal Ferrer (Southeastern)
- David Polo - Loss 2-6, 4-6 vs. Nadal Ferrer (Southeastern); Loss 2-6, 3-6 vs. Tyler Glowaki (Southeastern)
The final action of the fall for men's tennis will be at the Saint Leo Invitational October 29-31.
