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Saturday's Men's Tennis Championship Recaps
#1 College of Charleston 4, #5 Furman 0
CHARLESTON, S.C. - The College of Charleston Cougars topped Furman 4-0 Saturday morning to advance to the championship match of the Southern Conference Tournament.
The Cougars (17-4) won the doubles point and picked up wins at No. 2, No. 3 and No. 4 in singles play.
The teams split the first two doubles matches as CofC's Alon Faiman and Stephen Hardy beat Jacob Behal and Luke Synn 8-1 at No. 3. Furman's (9-15-1) Alex Christ and Joel Cook then beat Mickael Trintignac and Kyle Parker 8-3 at No. 1. With the team doubles point at stake, CofC's Tom Delme and Billy Kenny held off Andrew Mellow and Tyler Droll 8-3 at No. 2 to give the Cougars the early 1-0 lead in the match.
Kyle Parker downed Joel Cook at No. 3 by a 6-1, 6-2 score, while Crescente Lesser beat Behal 6-0, 6-2 at No. 4 to give the Cougars a 3-0 advantage. Tom Delme then finished a 6-2, 6-4 victory over Alex Christ at No. 2 to send CofC to Saturday's title match.
#2 Samford 4, #3 Appalachian State 2
Samford held off Appalachian State 4-2 Saturday afternoon to advance to the championship match of the Southern Conference Men's Tennis Tournament. The Bulldogs will be making their second consecutive appearance in the title match after winning the league crown in 2011.
Samford (17-4) raced out to a 3-1 lead only to have Appalachian State (15-7-1) narrow the margin to 3-2 before Carson Kadi closed out the match with a 6-3, 2-6, 7-6 (7-4) win over Philip Koc at No. 2 singles.
Appalachian State took a 1-0 lead in the match by claiming wins at No. 1 and No. 2. Sebastien King and Kloc beat Zac Dunkle and Alexander Sajonz 8-5 at the top doubles position. Alex Markov and Alain Humblet then downed Elliot Barnwell and Ryan Shidler by a similar score to secure the point for the Mountaineers.
Dunkle evened the match with a 6-4, 6-1 win over Markov at the top singles position. The Bulldogs pushed ahead 2-1 when Fernando Costa posted a straight-sets win over King (6-2, 6-3) at No. 4. Sajonz gave the defending regular season co-champs a 3-1 lead with a 6-4, 6-4 win over Steve Karandal.
Appalachian State battled back as Matt Saltsgaver defeated Ryan Shidler 6-2, 4-6, 6-2 at No. 6 prior to Kadi's win on court two.
The Bulldogs and Cougars will square off for the league championship at 10:00 a.m.