Furman 4, Cornell 3
Furman 6, Dartmouth 1
GREENVILLE, S.C. ? Furman head coach Paul Scarpa tied the NCAA Division I all-time record for men’s tennis wins as the Paladins defeated Ivy powers Cornell and Dartmouth on Friday at Mickel Tennis Center. Scarpa’s 819 victories tie retired University of Hawaii coach Jim Schwitters for the all-time mark.
Furman (6-5) pulled out a 4-3 victory over Cornell University (3-3) in the early match before defeating the Dartmouth Big Green (2-3), 6-1, to close out the day. After taking a 3-0 lead against the Cornell Big Red, the Paladins needed junior Jordan Walters’ win at number six singles in the final match to clinch the victory.
The Paladins switched up its doubles combinations and earned the team doubles point in both matches. Senior Bo Ladyman and Walters improved to 6-2 on the season, competing at number one for the first time this year. The duo clinched the critical doubles point against Cornell, defeating Joshua Goldstein and Kyle Doppelt, 8-5. Senior Andy Juc and sophomore Andrei Chvetsov paired together for the first time, earning two wins at number two doubles.
In singles action, Juc picked up straight set wins against Cornell’s Jonathan Jaklitsch and Dartmouth’s Daniel Freeman. Juc, the reigning SoCon Player of the Week, has won four of his last five matches. Freshman Philipp Fuelkell battled back after falling in the first set to defeat Cornell’s Andy Gauthier, 1-6, 6-2, 6-4, at number four. Juc and Fuelkell’s singles wins put Furman up 3-0 against the Big Red. Cornell would battle for wins at number two, three and five, before Walters defeated Doppelt, 6-4, 7-6 (4), to clinch the Paladin win.
Against the Big Green, Fuelkell won his eighth singles match of the year with a 6-3, 6-4 win over Justin Tzou at number four. Ladyman, Walters and Sawyer Duncan also picked up singles wins in the Furman victory.
Scarpa will get his first chance to break the all-time wins record when Furman challenges No. 2 Georgia on Sunday, March 1 at 2 p.m. in Athens, Ga.
Davidson 4, Richmond 2
DAVIDSON, N.C. ? Strong singles play by Walker Lyons and Scott Myers led the Davidson men’s tennis team to a 4-2 win over visiting Richmond on Friday afternoon at the Knobloch Tennis Center.
The Wildcats earned their third win of the season to improve to 3-5 on the year, while Richmond dropped to 1-10 in its first year under former Wildcat player and assistant coach Billy Boykin. The ?Cats also evened their home record to 2-2 on the season.
Because of rain, the match was forced indoors and singles play took place first, due to some time factors. Davidson responded with wins at the No. 1-3 and 5 positions to earn the 4-2 victory.
Winning his team-leading fourth singles match of the season was the senior Myers, who cruised past Rafael Arana a the No. 3 position by the score of 6-0, 6-1. Myers sits at 4-4 on the year and 3-2 in matches played at the No. 3 spot.
Snapping his six-match losing streak was No. 1 singles player Lyons as the sophomore took a 6-0, 6-3 decision over Sami Belakhlef. Lyons has played all eight of his matches this year at the No. 1 position.
Junior Eric Noble pushed his win streak to two straight after a 6-4, 6-3 win at the No. 2 position, while sophomore Arie Hefter finished off the win for Davidson with his third singles win of the season on the strength of a 6-3, 6-4 decision over A.J. Nelson at No. 5.
The Wildcats take to the road for their next two matches. They open up Southern Conference play with trips to Samford (Mar. 1) and Chattanooga (Mar. 2). Last year saw Davidson go 5-4 in league matches. It will be playing Samford for the first time, while the ?Cats look to make it two in a row over the Mocs, whom they defeated last season, 5-2.
Cornell 7, Wofford 0
GREENVILLE, S.C. - Playing their third match in as many days, the Wofford men's tennis team was defeated by Cornell 7-0 on Friday morning at the Furman Indoor Tennis courts. Wofford is now 3-7 on the season while Cornell improves to 3-2 on the year.
Stuart Robertson and Danny Manlow won 8-5 while Alan Donald and Paul Bartholomy lost 8-2 leaving the doubles point up to court No. 3. However, the duo of senior Captain Scott Collins and freshman Tinus Van Wyk were unable to capitalize and were defeated by a single break 8-6 giving Cornell the 1-0 lead heading into singles play.
Playing number one singles for the second straight match, Robertson lost in a tough third set falling 4-6, 6-4, 6-2. Van Wyk also went to a third set for the second straight day but was defeated in a third set match tiebreaker 5-7, 7-6, and 10-6 at the No. 4 position. Wofford was unable to come up with a singles point as the remaining four singles players lost in straight sets.
The Terriers will return to action on Thursday March 5 as they play host to UNC Asheville.
East Carolina 5, The Citadel 2
GREENVILLE, N.C. ? The Citadel tennis team fell, 5-2, to East Carolina on Friday, Feb. 27 at the ECU Tennis Complex in Greenville, N.C.
Yufo Sutantio remains undefeated for his fourth consecutive match defeating the Pirates’ Jaroslav Horvath, 7-6, 6-4. The second Bulldog point came from Michael Kociecki’s match against East Carolina’s Denis Ermilov. Kociecki dominated and earned a 6-3, 6-0 win.
In other singles action, Pirates’ Stephen Whitmell defeated Alberto Diaz, 6-1, 6-1 and Martin King fell to East Carolina’s Henrik Skalmerud, 6-0, 6-1, in singles four. Frank Larkin was defeated by Pirates’ Aleksey Kochetov, 6-1, 6-3 and East Carolina’s Bryan Oakley defeated Derek Dickey, 6-1, 6-3.
The Pirates’ swept the Bulldogs in doubles play. This is only the second time this season that The Citadel has been swept in doubles action.
Coming up next, the Bulldogs will host Longwood on Friday, March 6 at 2 p.m. at the Earle Tennis Center.
UAB 5, Chattanooga 1
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. --- The Chattanooga men’s tennis team fell 5-1 to UAB Friday afternoon in a non-conference matchup at the Samford Indoor Courts.
The Mocs fall to 1-6 overall and the Blazers move to 2-5.
Torrential downpours with threats of severe weather forced play indoors at the Samford Indoor Courts. Play started with singles matches and doubles were not played after the Blazers claimed the victory.
The Mocs’ Peter Sauska was Chattanooga’s lone winner at the No. 1 position. Sauska defeated Slawkek Szereneta 6-1, 6-4. Pavel Vostrikov fell in three sets to Alex Emery at the No. 2 spot. After dropping the first set 6-4, Vostrikov rebounded to tie the match with a 6-3 win in the second set. The two battled it out in the third set, but Vostrikov couldn’t hold on and fell 7-5.
The Mocs will host the University of Kentucky in a 1 p.m. match at the Champions Club Sunday afternoon. Admission is free to the public.