Bama's Mitchell Opens Strong at Regional Indoors
10/17/2003 12:00:00 AM | Men's Tennis
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MEMPHIS, Tenn. - University of Alabama men's tennis senior Stephen Mitchell opened play in the ITA Region III Indoor Championships with a convincing straight-set win at the Memphis Racquet Club on Friday.
"Everything he's been work on has really clicked," Alabama head coach Billy Pate said. "He's a senior who has shown maturity and I expect that. We tried to get him more aggressive and it paid off today. He really took care of business."
Mitchell's 6-1, 6-2 win over Memphis's James Spence set up a Southeastern Conference showdown match with Auburn's Andrew Colombo in the second round Saturday.
"I played poorly against Colombo last year and I'm definitely looking for redemption," Mitchell said. "He's got a big serve and he's playing well right now so it should be a great match-up between us."
At the Six-Plex Sports Complex in Memphis, the auxiliary site for the tournament, freshman Joseph Jung pulled of a lengthy three-setter against David Canudas, Southern Miss's No. 1 player a year ago. Jung followed up with another grueling three-set match in the second round, this time losing to Vanderbilt's Zach Dailey.
"Basically he was on the court for six hours for two matches," Pate said. "I'm proud of his effort today, he showed great heart and represented us well."
Jung led by a break in the second set of each match, but wasn't able to polish off a straight set win in either match.
"It was unfortunate he couldn't pull out the second match," Pate said, "but we talked about him closing out matches when he has a lead and that's something we have to improve."
In other Crimson Tide matches, senior Chris Gostek defeated Tennessee's Rawl Martin, Mike Green fell to Georgia's Stephan Timu, and Christian Brodersen lost to Ricardo Gonzalez of Georgia.
Complete UA results follow:
Stephen Mitchell (UA) d. James Spence (Memphis) 6-1, 6-2
Chris Gostek (UA) vs. Rawl Martin (UT) 6-1, 6-3
Ricardo Gonzalez (UGA) d. Christian Brodersen (UA) 4-6, 6-3, ret. inj.
Stephan Timu (UGA) d. Mike Green (UA) 6-2, 6-4
Joseph Jung (UA) d. David Canudas (USM) 7-6 (8), 5-7, 7-6 (8)
Zach Dailey (Vandy) d. 6-7, 6-3, 6-3
