LAKELAND, Fla. (September 27, 2021) –
Denis Golubev highlighted the weekend for Rollins tennis as they saw their first tournament action since the fall of 2019 this past weekend at the ITA South Regional. The Tars had four student-athletes play in the singles competition, and two pairs compete in doubles.
HOW IT HAPPENED (Singles):
- Golubev was awarded the #13 overall seed in the 64-man singles tournament. The Italian senior showed tremendous heart throughout the weekend, finding ways to bounce back almost every time that he fell behind. In Friday's opener against Rayane Alami (Lynn), Golubev eeked out a 6-7, 6-2, 10-5 win. That was followed by a quick 6-3, 6-2 win over Salvador Bandeira of West Florida. His reward was a matchup with #5 seed Juan Ortiz Couder of Embry-Riddle. Again, after dropping the first set 7-6, Golubev bounced back with a 6-4 in set two, followed by a 10-8 win in the tie-break. Continuing the theme, Facundo Bermejo of West Florida took the first set of the quarterfinals 7-6, but then fell to Golubev 6-0, 10-7. In the semifinals, Golubev was tasked with taking down the #3 seed Alejandro Ortega from Barry. Ortega dominated the first set 6-1, but Golubev bounced back with a 6-4 win in set two. The pair then ended with an epic battle during the tie-break, with the Tar topping the Buccaneer, 10-8. Golubev's magic ran out in the finals against #7 seed Alejandro Ibanez, also from Barry. After taking the first set 6-4, Golubev fell 2-6 in the second. For the fifth time in six matches, a tiebreaker was required, and Ibanez outlasted Golubev with a 10-7 victory.
- Efe Comu also fell to Ibanez, way back in the opening round (6-4, 6-1). However, the Turkish national picked up a pair of wins in the consolation bracket over Edward Etty (Valdosta State) and Philippe Zehender (Montevallo). Comu unfortunately had to withdraw during his match in the consolation quarterfinals due to injury.
- Mikkel Baumann snagged a victory after a hard fought match against Montevallo's Gavin Salton in the first round, 7-6, 6-7, 10-2. However, he would fall to Lynn's Lucca Baptista in the second round.
- Andrea Brignacca made light work of Palm Beach Atlantic's Joao Gabriel Velloso with a 6-0, 4-0 (inj) win in the first round. His weekend would end in the next round after dropping a heartbreaker to Alejandro Ortega, 6-4, 0-6, 6-10.
HOW IT HAPPENED (Doubles):
- Andrea Brignacca and Denis Golubev drew the #7 seed in the 32-team doubles competition. The duo dispatched Joao Guariente and David Mulas of Auburn Montgomery, 8-5, and followed that with a 8-7 (8) thriller over Palm Beach Atlantic's Rodolfo Hasegawa and Eric Carlsten. Their tournament run ended in the quarterfinals however, when they fell to Luca Mack and Raony Carvalho of Valdosta State, 8-2.
- Freshman Alexandru Bucurescu teamed up with Mikkel Baumann to form the Tars second team. After dropping a close one in their opening round matchup with West Florida, the duo was able to pick up a win in the quarterfinals of the consolation bracket by defeating Sergi Martinez and Gavin Salton of Montevallo by a score of 8-4. In the semi-finals, they were defeated 8-4 by Tim Buttner and Arnau Rodriguez of Barry University.
Golubev's impressive run made him the first Tar since Anton Bettink (2015) to make it to the ITA South Region finals. Next up for men's tennis is the annual C.L. Varner Invitational, hosted by the Tars. Matches will be played October 8-10 on campus in Winter Park.
