MACON, Ga. – The Middle Georgia State men's and women's tennis teams competed last weekend in the Mercer Gridiron Classic, hosted by Mercer University. The tournament draws teams from across the Southeast from NCAA DI, DII, and NAIA.
 
In the Men's tournament, Alexander Achour won in the Round of 16 in Flight B1, defeating Joao Luis Silva from North Georgia 6-4,6-3 before falling in the quarterfinals.
 
In Flight C1, Nick Dufner defeated Giovanni Ronzio from Georgia State University 6-4,7-6 before losing in the quarterfinals. Michal Glocman was also in Flight C1 and won his Round of 16 match against Milan Volbert of ABAC before losing to Henrique Costanzi De Brito from Troy University.
 
In Flight C2, Zachariah Achour won 6-3,6-3 in the Round of 16 over Nathan Bauer from ABAC before losing in three sets to Lenny Galley from Troy University.
 
In the Women's tournament, in Flight A, the team of Lucile Gence and Tamanna Takoria won their first match 6-3 against Florida A&M University before losing in the quarterfinals to a team from Western Carolina University. Mayra Gisone and Ainhoa Meili Fernandez were also in Flight A, defeating one of the host teams 6-2 before losing to a team from Kennesaw State University.
 
In Flight B, Yana Prihach and Berta Castello made the deepest run as they defeated a team from Florida Southern 6-2 in the Round of 16 and won their quarterfinal match 6-0 against a team from North Georgia before losing 6-3 in the semifinals to a team from Georgia State University.
 
In singles action, Ainhoa Meili Fernandez defeated Victoria Noix Chateau of North Georgia 6-0,6-4 and Johanna Dahlstrom of Florida Southern 6-2,6-3 to make it into the semifinals of Flight B1, losing to Amelie Rosadoro of Georgia Southern University.
 
Berta Castello defeated Katelyn Green of ABAC 6-0,6-3 in Flight B2 to advance to the quarterfinals before losing to Annik Freund of Georgia Southern University. Also in Flight B2, Yana Prihach won 6-1,6-4 against Defne Erbakan of Georgia State University and 6-1,6-3 over Sophia Bates of Georgia College to advance to the semifinals where she lost to Xuanyu Chen of Emory University.
 
The Knights will head to Sumter, South Carolina to take part in the Fall ITA Southeast Regional Championship, hosted by Palmetto Tennis Center on October 16-19.