ST AUGUSTINE, Fla. — The top team in the land was defeated Tuesday afternoon at the Flagler Tennis Center as No. 9 Flagler College edged No. 1 Columbus State University, 4-3, in dramatic fashion at the Flagler Tennis Center.
The Saints move to 12-4 on the year, and a perfect 3-0 in Peach Belt Conference play. The Cougars move to 15-2 on the year while moving to 2-1 in the PBC this year. Flagler snapped the Cougars 36-match win streak in the PBC, which dates back to the 2017 campaign.
"Incredible TEAM win beating the No. 1 in the country," Flagler head coach
Jonas Piibor said. "This one is for everyone associated with Flagler Athletics. This is a result of very hard work and faithful support from everyone."
This is the first time Flagler has defeated a No. 1 ranked team since 2007, when the Saints defeated Valdosta State University.
The opening doubles point came down to the wire, a theme for the entire match. The CSU team at second doubles, who are ranked eighth in the nation, defeated
Nikita Tatyanin and
Jagger Ong-Patzwald, 2-6.
The next match to finish was first doubles, which featured Flagler's
Oscar Del Granado and
Philipp Lemken facing off against No. 34 Alvaro Regalado and Javier Cueto Ramos. The match went the distance, but was decided in Flagler's favor after the officials assessed Regalado with a game penalty. Earlier in the match, he was assessed a point penalty due to a code violation.
All eyes shifted to third doubles, which featured
Petr Cervinka and
Jacopo Denitto, who were playing together for the first time this year, and facing off against the Cougars' Christian Garay and Felix Steen. Like first doubles, this went the distance but the Saints' duo managed to outlast the Cougars 7-6 (8-6) to gain the 1-0 advantage headed into singles competition.
Singles play was as action packed as the doubles matches that preceded it, with the match coming down to the wire. CSU knotted the match up at one apiece, with No. 1 Regalado besting Del Granado, 6-2, 6-2. Adjacent to that match, No. 32 Tatyanin put Flagler back ahead, defeating No. 36 Schold, 7-6 (4), 6-2 for the Spaniard's 13th singles win of the season, and first against a nationally-ranked opponent.
At fifth singles, the Cougars' Pietro Martinetti dispatched
Cedric Holzmann, 6-2, 6-3, to once again even the score at 2-2. CSU gained its first lead of the match following a victory at third singles, with No. 75 Christian Garay being tested by Cervinka, but ultimately coming out on top, 5-7, 6-7 (6), leaving fourth and sixth singles left.
At sixth singles, Denitto outlasted Justin Welz in three sets, 6-3, 5-7, 6-2, to even the match at three apiece, leaving fourth singles to decide the match.
With their respective teammates on the court next to them, and all spectators on their feet at the fence and standing on the bleachers, No. 69 Lemken battled with Steen for over three hours. Lemken battled back to force a decisive third set after losing set one, 5-7, but winning the second, 6-4. Lemken broke Steen early on in the set to gain the advantage up 5-4 and serving for the match. Up 40-love, Steen's return went into the bottom of the net and Lemken was mobbed by his teammates as Flagler has just pulled off the upset.
Flagler will look to continue its strong play later this week, traveling to Dahlongea, Georgia for another PBC showdown, this time with No. 5 the University of North Georgia this coming Friday at 2 p.m.
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