William & Mary 4, Elon 3
WILLIAMSBURG, Va. - The Elon men's tennis team continued its challenging non-conference slate on Sunday morning with a highly competitive match at 75th-ranked William & Mary, falling 4-3 in a match that came down to a three-set thriller at the number four singles spot. Tribe senior Sebastien Vidal rebounded to pull out a 5-7, 6-4, 6-2 victory over Elon's Alberto Rojas to clinch the match for the home team at McCormack-Nagelsen Tennis Center. No. 68 Elon fell to 3-4 on the season while W&M improved to 8-5 on the year.
Elon got off to a strong start in doubles competition, using comeback victories at all three positions to earn the doubles point. The Phoenix duo of Alberto Rojas and Cameron Silverman was the first off the court, coming back from a 5-2 deficit and winning six of the final seven games to defeat Anton Andersson and Ilar Orrie, 8-6.
The top doubles bout featured two ranked opponents in 56th-ranked Philip Nemec and Chase Helpingstine from Elon facing off against No. 25 Jamie Whiteford and Sebastien Vidal. The Elon tandem jumped out to an early 5-2 advantage before the Tribe won four straight games to go on top 6-5. Whiteford and Vidal led 7-6 before the Phoenix reeled off the final three games to take the 9-7 victory and clinch the point for the Phoenix.
At number three doubles, Elon's Cody Stauffer-MacDowell and Tommy Darling found themselves down 6-3 before taking five straight games in an 8-6 victory over Adrian Vodislav and Ben Guthrie.
The Tribe evened the score at one when Andersson won his 13th singles match of the year, posting a 6-3, 6-1 defeat of Nemec at number one. W&M continued its strong play at the top of its lineup with straight-set wins at both number two and three to take a 3-1 advantage.
Elon tied the match at three with victories on courts five and six, forcing a decisive point at number four. Stauffer-MacDowell came away with a 7-5, 6-4 win against Vodislav at number six and Helpingstine followed with a hard-fought 7-5, 7-6 (7) defeat of Ben Hoogland at five. In the final match, Rojas and Vidal split the first two sets before Vidal broke Rojas in the first game of the final set en route to the 5-7, 6-4, 6-2 clincher.
The Phoenix returns home for a double-header against Lees-McRae and George Washington next Saturday, Feb. 26. Play will begin at 10 a.m. from The Jimmy Powell Tennis Center.
Marquette 4, Furman 3
GREENVILLE, S.C. - Marquette won four singles matches to claim a 4-3 win over Furman Sunday afternoon in men's tennis action at the Mickel Tennis Center in Greenville, S.C.
Playing with new doubles combinations in the lower two doubles spots, the Paladins posted wins at number two and three doubles to clinch the doubles point. Senior Andrei Chvetsov returned to the line-up after battling sickness to team with sophomore Tyler Droll for an 8-5 win over Jose Carlos Crowley and Dan Mamalat at number two. In the third doubles match, freshman Joel Cook combined with junior Watson George for an 8-4 victory over Otavio Perim and Thibault Troude. The Golden Eagles posted an 8-4 win in the top doubles spot, with Jose Manuel Munoz and Jonathan Schwerin beating Paladin senior Sawyer Duncan and sophomore Andrew Mellow.
The two teams battled through several close singles matches, with three matches going three sets. Mellow fought through two close tie-breaker matches for a 7-6, 7-6 win over Mamalat at number two singles, and Cook defeated Troude, 6-2, 4-6, 6-2 in the sixth singles match for an additional Paladin victory.
Marquette's Crowley defeated Duncan, 6-0, 6-4 at number one singles, and Munoz beat Chvetsov, 6-4, 6-2 at number three singles. The fourth and fifth singles matches came down to three sets. Collins recorded a 6-1, 6-7, 7-5 win over Droll in the fourth singles match, with Droll fighting back from a 3-0 deficit to force a close final set. Perim defeated Robbie Aru, 6-2, 4-6, 6-0, in the number five match.
"I was really pleased with our performance, especially considering that two of our top players, Alex Christ and Carl Lundberg, were out of the line-up due to injuries," said Furman head coach Paul Scarpa following the match. "This was a great match that came down to the very last set. It was good to see our new doubles teams be successful, and I was proud that our players fought hard to the end."
Furman (0-9) will play at #16 Georgia Saturday at 1 p.m.
East Carolina 4, Appalachian State 3
GREENVILLE, N.C. - After sweeping doubles play for the first time all season, the Appalachian State University men's tennis fell 4-3 due to a late surge by non-conference rival East Carolina on Sunday afternoon.
The Mountaineers (2-3) came out strong by winning all three doubles matches and claiming the first point of the afternoon. Alain Humblet and Philip Kloc breezed through the number one pair from ECU (6-2) to win 8-3 and push their season doubles record to 4-1.
The newcomer duo of Alex Markov and Sebastien King battled to defeat Henrik Skalmerud and Stian Tvedt 7-6 (7-5) at the No. 2 slot, while Ezekiel Sansing and Andrew McKinnon triumphed 8-4 at the third position.
Appalachian carried its impressive start over to singles play, as it won two of the first three singles matches, but it slipped up at the No. 4, 5 and 6 spots, where ASU lost all a trio of well-fought matches.
Markov relinquished the first point to the Pirates with a 6-3, 7-5 loss to Massinmo Mannino at the number one position. Humblet made quick work at the No. 2 slot with a 6-1, 6-2 win over Jaroslav Horvath, but doubles teammate Kloc had to push his match to three sets at the No. 3 spot to pull out a victory over Skalmerud (4-6, 6-2, 6-4).
King suffered his first singles loss of the season at the hands of Joran Vliegen, 6-2, 7-5.
McKinnon and Matt Saltsgaver also urged their competitions at No. 5 and 6 to three sets, but neither athlete could pull out a victory, which completed ECU's comeback win.
The Black and Gold return to action Saturday, February 26 against UNC Asheville in hopes to rebound after this difficult loss to East Carolina.