Oct. 14, 2007

COLUMBIA, S.C. ----- UAB men's tennis freshman Tyrone Ewels capped off a successful weekend Sunday as he defeated Blazer teammate Alex Emery in the singles final of the A/B Flight of the South Carolina Fall Invitational.

Ewels, playing only his third collegiate tournament, won all five of his matches in straight sets during the three-day event hosted by the University of South Carolina. He wrapped up the perfect weekend in singles with a 6-0, 6-4 win over his sophomore teammate, Emery.

Earlier in the day, Ewels had advanced with a 6-4, 6-4 semifinal win over Auburn's Alex Petropolous. Emery earned his way into the title match against Ewels by outlasting Jack Roux of South Carolina-Upstate, 6-4, 6-7, 6-1.

"For a freshman, Tyrone has really been impressive in his ability to adjust to the type of game his opponent is playing," said Blazers' assistant coach Davidson Kozlowski. "He can play a variety of games and I think that's been one of his strengths this fall. He chases down every ball and isn't making the silly mistakes."

In Ewels' tight semifinal match with Auburn's Petropolous, Ewels was able to get a service break at 4-all in the first set and at 3-all in the second set. That's all he needed to post the win over the in-state opponent.

More than 200 players representing 36 schools played in the tournament that was held at four different Columbia tennis venues.