James Madison 5, The Citadel 2
East Carolina 4, The Citadel 3
CHARLESTON, S.C. - The Citadel tennis team suffered two losses on Wednesday at the Earle Tennis Center. James Madison defeated the Bulldogs, 5-2, while East Carolina edged the Bulldogs, 4-3.
The Citadel was down, 4-0, before David Orces earned the first Bulldog point at No. 3 singles. Orces won his first set against the Pirates' Henrik Skalmerud, 7-5, and then was forced to a super tiebreaker after a 6-2 loss in the second set. Orces claimed a thrilling 10-5 win in the third set.
Yufo Sutantio earned his first win of the day at No. 1 singles. Sutantio defeated East Carolina's Jaroslav Horvath, 4-6, 6-2, 6-2. In singles two, Alberto Diaz recorded the last Bulldog point when he won in a super tiebreaker against the Pirates' Stephen Whitwell, 6-4, 2-6, 10-7.
On court four, East Carolina's Massimo Mannino defeated Josh Cook, 6-1, 6-1, and Luis Morett fell, 7-5, 6-0, to the Pirates' Bryan Oakely. Derek Dickey dropped, 6-3, 6-1, to East Carolina's John Schmitt at the No. 6 position.
In doubles play, Diaz and Sutantio topped the Pirates' Horvath and Whitwell, 8-4. Orces and Dickey had a disappointing 8-4 loss to East Carolina's Oakley and Mannino at No. 2 doubles while at No. 3 Tripp Larkin and Morett lost, 8-3, to the Pirates' Skalmerud and Stian Tvedt.
Earlier in the day against James Madison, Morett collected the first Bulldog point in three sets against the Dukes' Jovan Milic. Morett lost the first set, 4-6, in singles five but dominated the second set and won, 6-2. James Madison already claimed the win but Morett and the Dukes' Milic rallied in a super tiebreaker. It was neck-and-neck most of the match but Morett pulled out the 10-7 victory.
David Orces and James Madison's Stephen Hardy battled two sets for approximately two hours at No. 4 singles. Orces had control most of the first set as he won, 7-6. In the second set, the score was tied twice and the lead changed four times before Orces earned the Bulldog point with a 6-4 win.
In other singles action, the Dukes' Greg Vladimirsky defeated Alberto Diaz, 6-2, 6-2, at No. 1 singles while Sutantio suffered a 6-2, 6-4, loss to James Madison's Mike Smith.
Larkin lost, 6-2, 6-3, to the Dukes' Yaroslav Voznenko at No. 6 while Cook was defeated by James Madison's Tommi Nissinen, 6-5, 6-1.
The Dukes had full control of doubles play. The No. 3 doubles match finished first as Orces and Cook lost, 8-2, to James Madison's Ville Maaranen and Vladimirsky. At No. 2 doubles, the Dukes' Hardy and Voznenko defeated Dickey and Morett, 8-2. Diaz and Sutantio paired at doubles one and lost, 8-4, to James Madison's Smith and King.
The Bulldogs fall to 1-7, 0-1 SoCon while James Madison improves to 6-6 and East Carolina ups to 11-3.
Coming up next, the Bulldogs will continue SoCon action when they welcome Furman to the Earle Tennis Center on Thursday, March 11 at 1 p.m.
Samford 7, Birmingham-Southern 0
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. - In Wednesday's twilight cross-town matchup held at the Samford Tennis Center, the Samford University men's tennis team tallied a methodical 7-0 victory against the Birmingham-Southern Panthers in a nonconference matchup held on the Bulldogs' three indoor courts.
With the win, Samford (8-2) earned its second straight triumph and proved to be victorious in its eighth match in nine outings. So far this season, the Bulldogs' only losses have come against Georgia State and College of Charleston.
Birmingham-Southern (5-5) suffered its first defeat since Feb. 27 as the Panthers had their two-match winning streak snapped. With the loss, Birmingham-Southern fell to 1-2 in road contests this season.
Samford breezed to Wednesday's victory by sweeping all of the doubles and singles matches. The Bulldogs jumped out to an early 1-0 lead by winning the doubles point and then received singles wins from Zac Dunkle, Scott Foster, Oliver Reynolds, Carson Kadi, Carl Abalos and Adam Witcher.
With Reynolds' dominant 6-1, 6-1, triumph in the No. 3 singles contest, Samford's junior native of McDonough, Ga., extended his winning streak to eight-consecutive matches and improved his record on the season to 8-1.
The Samford University men's tennis team will next be in action Saturday at noon (CST) as the Bulldogs begin a critical five-match, spring break road trip against the Elon Phoenix in a key Southern Conference showdown to be held at the Jimmy Powell Tennis Center in Elon, N.C.