September 9, 2006

ATHENS, Ga. -- Nicolas Delgado battled from behind to advance to the Division II singles quarterfinals at the 38^th Annual Southern Intercollegiate Championships. The event is being played at the Dan Magill Tennis Complex on the University of Georgia campus.

Delgado (So., Madrid, Spain) easily defeated Alejandro Portugal (Winthrop), 6-3, 6-1, in his first match of the day then overcame a tough first set to defeat Derek Stephens (Tennessee) 1-6, 6-4, 6-3. He will play the quarterfinal match Sunday morning.

In other singles, Arvid Puranen (Sr., Lulea, Sweden), ranked No. 34 nationally, defeated Renan Salviera (Samford) 6-2, 6-1, in his first Saturday match, before being eliminated by H. Cancado (Old Dominion) 3-6, 6-4, 6-3. In the Divison I consolation bracket, Albert Larregola (Jr., Lleida, Spain) defeated Eric Molnar (Georgia Tech) 6-4, 6-4, and will play again Sunday. Molnar is ranked No. 31 nationally.

In Division II, Brandon Corace (So., Naples, Fla.) was eliminated 6-1, 6-0, by Aaron Carpenter (Duke) while Alexei Sergeev (Sr., Moscow, Russia) defeated Felix Bernhoester (Charlotte) 6-2, 6-3, in the consolation bracket and will take the court again Sunday morning.

The Hokies dropped three Division III matches as Eduardo Pinto (Fr., San Jose, Costa Rica) lost 6-1, 6-4, to Stuart Misner (Samford) but bounced back to defeat Chris Horton (Murray State) 6-1, 6-1, in the consolation round. Elsewhere, Akil Burgess (Sr., St. Michael, Barbados) was eliminated 7-5, 0-6, 6-3, by John Thornton (Tennessee) and Ignaci Roca (Jr., San Jose, Costa Rica) lost 6-4, 6-4, versus Arthur Takahashi (Winthrop).

In Division I doubles, Corace/Puranen, ranked No. 57 nationally, lost 8-2 to Flores/Isner (Georgia). The Georgia duo are the No. 2 seeds and ranked ninth in the nation. In Division II, Delgado/Larregola won 8-3 over Gvelesiani/Roebuck (Mississippi State) and will play again on Sunday. Elsewhere, Burgess/Sergeev were eliminated, 9-7, by Allen/Malina (College of Charleston), Pinto/Roca were eliminated 8-3 by Insaurralde/Picardo (East Tennessee State).