Appalachian State 5, Samford 2
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. --- In its ninth-consecutive home match, the Samford University men’s tennis team suffered a 5-2 Southern Conference setback against the Appalachian State Mountaineers on Saturday at the Samford Tennis Center.
In the defeat, Samford (5-11, 2-3 SoCon) received both of its points in singles play as sophomore Oliver Reynolds won on court No. 5 and true freshman Carson Kadi tallied a straight-set victory on court No. 2.
Saturday’s match was the Bulldogs’ ninth-straight contest at home in the Samford Tennis Center. During its nearly month-long homestand, Samford compiled a 4-5 record. The Bulldogs are 1-6 when playing on the road this season.
Appalachian State (10-5, 2-3 SoCon) snapped its two-match losing streak Saturday. Prior to earning their 5-2 victory against the Bulldogs, the Mountaineers dropped consecutive contests to SoCon-opponents College of Charleston 7-0 and Furman 5-2.
In Saturday’s win, Appalachian State earned the doubles point and then added singles victories on courts No. 1, No. 3, No. 4 and No. 6.
Samford’s Kadi defeated Appalachian State’s Trent Constance, 6-2, 7-6(4), in the No. 2 singles match, while the Bulldogs’ Reynolds frustrated the Mountaineers’ Philip Kloc, 6-4, 6-4, on court No. 5. With his victory, Kadi tallied his fifth-straight win in singles play. Samford’s highly touted native of New Orleans, La., is now 12-4 this season.
Kadi also won his third-consecutive match in doubles play. Along with teammate Michael Browder on Saturday, the Bulldogs’ pair defeated the Mountaineers’ combination of Britton Webb and Kloc, 8-6, in the No. 3 doubles competition. Kadi has been victorious in seven of his previous eight doubles matches.
The Samford men’s tennis team will next be in action on March 31 at 2:30 p.m. (CDT) as the Bulldogs travel to Chattanooga, Tenn., for another key SoCon match against the Chattanooga Mocs.
UNC Greensboro 6, College of Charleston 1
GREENSBORO, N.C. ? UNC Greensboro won four singles matches in three sets to raise its mark to 7-4 overall and 3-0 in Southern Conference play with a 6-1 win over College of Charleston on Saturday afternoon.
Leading 2-1 after claiming the doubles point and an easy win by freshman Jacob Wright, the Spartans reeled off four wins in decisive third sets to claim the victory. Orcus Seyrek, Andrey Bubnov, Arsel Kumdereli and William John came through with third set victories at Nos. 1, 2, 3 and 5 singles.
With Seyrek’s win over Lukas Koncilia at No. 1 singles, he is now 15-3 overall this season, including six straight wins, and 10-1 in spring dual matches. He and Kumdereli are also 10-4 this season in doubles play this season after winning again on Saturday, downing Tom Delme and Steven Myers, 8-5.
The Spartans hit the road on Sunday for a 1 pm match at Longwood.
Furman 7, Davidson 0
GREENVILLE, S.C. ? The Furman men’s tennis team won its 20th consecutive home match, defeating the visiting Davidson Wildcats, 7-0, in Southern Conference action on Saturday afternoon at Mickel Tennis Center. The Paladins (11-7, 2-0) have won all seven matches at home this season to remain undefeated at Mickel since 2007. The loss dropped Davidson to 5-8 overall, 1-2 in the league.
The Paladins quickly jumped out to a 1-0 lead, winning at number one and number three doubles to take the team point. Furman sophomore Andrei Chvetsov and junior Jordan Walters earned an 8-2 victory against Tareq Alani and Carter Braxton at the third spot. Seniors Andy Juc and Bo Ladyman, ranked 67th in the country, clinched the point with an 8-4 defeat of Davidson’s Eric Noble and Walker Lyons.
Furman was impressive in singles action, winning all six matches in straight sets. At number five singles, Walters did not lose a game in his 6-0, 6-0 win against Arie Hefter. Juc rolled to his 10th win of the season, topping Noble, 6-0, 6-1, at the top singles position. Senior Daniel Knause posted his sixth consecutive singles win, defeating Scott Myers, 6-1, 6-3. Sophomore Sawyer Duncan improved his team-best record to 15-2 with a 6-2, 6-1 win over David Warren. At number four, junior Chris Motes earned a 6-3, 6-2 victory against Calum Gee.
Wofford 4, Georgia Southern 3
SPARTANBURG, S.C. - Fresh off a 4-3 win over College of Charleston on Friday, the Terriers matched the identical score of 4-3 in a win over Georgia Southern on Saturday at the Reeves Tennis Center for their second straight Southern Conference victory. Wofford improves to 8-8 overall and pushes its SoCon record to 2-1 while the Eagles fall below .500 at 5-6 overall and 1-2 in the conference.
The Terriers continued its dominance in doubles play for the second straight day as they swept all three doubles matches from the Eagles to take the doubles point and a one point to none lead heading into singles play. Tinus Van Wyk and Scott Collins downed De Werdt and Sands 8-4 on court No. 3 while Danny Manlow and Stuart Robertson won 8-4 on court No. 1. Paul Bartholomy and Alan Donald completed the sweep on court number two as they won in a match tiebreaker 8-7.
In singles play, Georgia Southern made things interesting but the Terriers were able to pull out three singles victories to secure the win. Donald rolled on court No. 4 defeating Castanhel 6-2, 6-1. Manlow also cruised on court No.2 winning 6-0, 7-5. The Hero of yesterdays match, Van Wyk, was the third and final Terriers to pull out a singles win to help secure the victory as he downed Garrido 6-3, 6-4.
Elon 7, Winston-Salem State 0
ELON, N.C. ? Elon captains Kevin Beard, Clark Howell and Damon Gooch and teammates Carlin Murray, Philip Nemec and Alberto Rojas all registered singles victories as the Phoenix soared to a 7-0 non-league win over Winston-Salem State ? Elon’s seventh consecutive triumph and ninth victory in 10 contests ? Saturday morning at the Jimmy Powell Tennis Center.
The Phoenix (10-4) opened the match by sweeping the three doubles bouts as Murray and Chase Helpingstine dispatched Maximillian Glodde and Wesley McKinney 8-0 at No. 1, Howell and Oscar Podlewski downed Joab Odera and Troy Moore 8-1 at No. 2 and Beard and Cody Stauffer MacDowell upended Brian Coxton and Daren Milbourne 8-5 at No. 3.
Gooch (over Coxton 6-0, 6-2 at No. 1), Murray (over Glodde 6-0, 6-0 at No. 2), Beard (over McKinney 6-0, 6-1 at No. 3), Howell (over Odera 6-1, 6-1 at No. 4), Nemec (over Moore 6-0, 6-0 at No. 5) and Rojas (over Milbourne 6-0, 6-1 at No. 6) all collected wins as Elon improved to 69-21 (.767) over the past four springs since struggling through a 5-17 campaign in 2005.
Elon 7, Georgia State 0
ELON, N.C. -- Playing its second match of the day, the Elon Phoenix men's tennis squad did not drop a set en route to a 7-0 non-conference victory over the visiting Georgia State Panthers from the Jimmy Powell Tennis Center on Saturday afternoon. The win was the eighth straight for the Phoenix who now boasts an 11-4 record on the year. Georgia State now sits at 0-16.
The Phoenix rolled through doubles play as the team's top doubles team of Damon Gooch and Philip Nemic (ranked 48th in the nation) defeated Trenton Spinks and Jackson Moore by an 8-2 score in 34 minutes. A minute later, Elon's duo of Chase Helpingstine and Carlin Murry knocked off GSU's William Adeimy and Lucas Thomaz 8-3 at number two.
Cody Stauffer-MacDowell and Alberto Rojas teamed up to give the Phoenix the doubles sweep when they claimed an 8-3 win over Martin Shishkov and Orlando Battaglia.
Stauffer-MacDowell made short work of Adeimy at number six singles, picking up Elon's second point with a 6-0, 6-0 win in just 39 minutes. Helpingstine's 6-3, 6-1 win at number four over Thomaz gave the Phoenix point number three.
The deciding point was earned by Nemec who dispatched Henri Mangin by a 6-3, 6-1 score a number three singles. It was the eighth-straight singles win for Nemec.
Oscar Podlewski won 6-3, 6-2 over Jackson Moore at number two. Rojas claimed a 6-3, 6-3 win over Battaglia at number five and Gooch, ranked 66th in the nation, defeated Shiskov 6-4, 6-1 at number one to complete the sweep.
The Phoenix hits the road with a league match at Georgia Southern at 2:30 p.m. on Tuesday afternoon.