UNC Greensboro 7, UNC Asheville 0
GREENSBORO, N.C. - UNC Greensboro won two of three doubles matches and then swept through all six singles matches to top in-state rival UNC Asheville, 7-0, in men's tennis action Saturday night at Starmount Country Club.
Orcun Seyrek, Arsel Kumdereli, Jacob Wright and Yaroslav Litus were all double winners on Saturday. Litus rallied from down a set to top Thomas Rees in a three-set marathon, 5-7, 6-2, 7-6, 7-4 in the tiebreaker. Seyrek had an easier time at No. 1 singles, topping Matt Waissen 6-2 and 7-5.
Kumdereli and Wright won in straight sets with the help of tiebreakers.
Kumdereli topped Nicolai Nonnenbroich 7-6 and 6-4, with an 8-6 score in the first-set tiebreaker. Wright topped Jonas Brobeck, 6-4 and 7-6, with a 7-4 score in his second-set tiebreaker.
The Spartans (3-1) return to action on Sunday when they host Charlotte back at the Starmount indoor facility. Start time is set for 5:30 p.m.
Chattanooga 6, Murray State 1
MURRAY, Ky. - The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga men's tennis team broke into the win column with a decisive 6-1 victory at Murray State today. The Mocs continue their season-long improvement and move their record to 1-5 in spring action while the Racers fall to 1-2.
Chattanooga narrowly missed its first win of the season yesterday in a one-point loss at Austin Peay. The dual went down to a tiebreaker in the final match, so UTC head coach Carlos Garcia knew his squad was getting close.
The Mocs started off today's match by winning the doubles point for the second straight outing. The Racers won the No. 3 doubles bout, but sophomore Sam Parfitt and freshman Ryan Pool evened things out with an 8-4 win in the top match. It was their third straight doubles win as they improved to 3-2 as a pair.
Freshmen Roberto Vieira and Jackson Tresnan secured the point with their 8-4 win against Renaldo Domoney and Luka Milicevic. Vieira and Tresnan posted their second straight doubles win today.
Singles action started with freshman Chris Smith defeating Domoney (6-0, 6-3) in the No. 3 match. Smith's win was his first in singles action this spring, snapping a five-match slide. He is 6-9 in singles on the season and is still tied for the team lead in wins.
Vieira put the Mocs up 3-0 with a 6-2, 6-2 win over Milicevic at No. 3. Freshman William Disterdick sealed the victory with his 6-2, 6-2 win over Mason Johnson at No. 6. Freshmen Jackson Tresnan and Ryan Pool rounded out Chattanooga's scoring with their singles wins at No. 5 and No. 1, respectively.
The Mocs next travel to Jacksonville State on Feb. 24 for a 3:00 p.m. (E.S.T.) match. Chattanooga will be back at home on Feb. 27 when they open Southern Conference action against the College of Charleston at 1:00 p.m.
East Carolina 4, Davidson 3
DAVIDSON, N.C. - The Davidson men's tennis team played its second straight close match, only to see them come up just short for the second time as the Wildcats fell 4-3 to East Carolina on Saturday afternoon at Knobloch Tennis Center.
Davidson, which fell 4-3 in its last match at #59 Furman, tied things up at 2-all before the Pirates (8-1) scored a three-set tiebreaker win at No. 2 singles, and then sealed up the match with a straight set victory at No. 6.
ECU has won its last five straight.
The Wildcats (4-3) opened the match with a solid 8-3 victory at No. 1 doubles by the pair of Eric Noble and Joe Schafer, who recorded their third win of the season. But, ECU won the next two, though the OCats battled the Pirates to the end, falling in two 9-7 matches to fall behind 1-0.
After Schafer dropped his first match of the season at No. 1 singles, Walker Lyons and Chris Mark picked up their teammate and scored the next two points to tie things up at 2-all. Lyons won a 6-3, 6-4 decision over Henrik Skalmerud at No. 3, while Mark took home a 6-1, 6-2 victory at No. 4. The freshman is a team-best 6-1 on the year.
The next match was a battle all the way to the end featuring Noble and Stephen Whitwell. Noble earned a nice 6-4 win in the first set, but Whitwell came back to score a victory in the next set, setting up a thrilling third set. Noble forced a tiebreaker, and went back-and-forth with Whitwell, before falling in the end, 7-5, in the tiebreaker that gave ECU the 3-2 lead.
ECU closed out the match with a 6-2, 6-2 win at No. 6 singles, but the OCats scored the final point on a well-played match by Calum Gee. The sophomore lost his first set, 6-0, before cruising to a 6-1 win in the second set. Gee then took an early lead in the third set and held on for a 6-4 decision in the final set as he ran his singles record to 5-1 on the season.
The Wildcats stay at home and take a seven-day break before hosting Winston-Salem State on Saturday, Feb. 27, at 1 p.m.