Oct. 12, 2007

COLUMBIA, S.C. - Six members of the USC Upstate men's tennis team advanced in singles play at the USC Fall Invitational on the campus of the University of South Carolina on Friday, capped by a thrilling three-set comeback by senior Sebastian Gonzales-Orbegoso (Lima, Peru/Cambridge College) in B-2 singles.

Gonzales-Orbegoso posted a thrilling 0-6, 7-5, 6-3 win over Belmont's Ignacio Gesto. Down 5-4 in the second set, Gonzales-Orbegoso stormed back, winning the next three games and used the momentum to break Gesto's serve twice to start the third set en route to the win. He faces Bo Crouch of the College of Charleston on Saturday at 11 a.m. Sophomore Renzo Airaldi (Lima, Peru/Domingo Faustino Sarmiento) posted a 6-0, 6-1 decision against Alabama-Birmingham's Miki Artero. He moves on to face Alabama-Birmingham's Adrian Tollestam on Saturday at 11 a.m., also in B-2 singles.

Junior Sandy Franz (Dusseldorf, Germany/Berufskolleg Hilden) posted a 7-6, 6-1 win over Clemson's Derek Defazio in the A-1 singles flight. He will face fifth-seed, Badr Boabdellah of UT-Chattanooga, in the round of 16 at 10 a.m. on Saturday.

Sophomore Jack Roux (Santiago, Chile/Subercaseaux) took his match from UT-Chattanooga's Pavel Vostrikov, 6-4, 6-3, in A/B singles and will move on to face Anderson's Renato Assuncao at 11 a.m. on Saturday.

Sophomore Arnaldo Lovera (Caracas, Venezuela) took a 6-1, 6-2 decision from Wofford's Richard Cahi and will move on to face Belmont's Fausto Rocha at 1 p.m. on Satuday.

In B-3 singles, freshman Nicolas Ospina (Bogota, Columbua/S.E. de Manizales) posted a 6-2, 6-2 win against Presbyterian's Adam Herendeen.

However, the Spartans struggled in doubles, with all three pairs dropping first-round matches. Also, sophomore Javier Tori (Lima, Peru/Markham College) and junior Leandro Osorio (Quillota, Chile/Subercaseaux) fell in singles play.

Upstate will continue at the USC Fall Invitational on Saturday.