Samford 4, Davidson 3
DAVIDSON, N.C. - Seeking its first Southern Conference win of the year, the Davidson men's tennis team saw yet another close match go against them as they dropped a 4-3 decision to visiting Samford on Saturday afternoon in the Knobloch Tennis Center.
It was Davidson's (4-13, 0-4 SoCon) third conference match that went down to the wire and decided by one team point. The Wildcats also dropped 4-3 decisions to Elon and Chattanooga.
Samford (12-4, 2-2 SoCon) won its fifth match in the last six its played.
The afternoon started off with Davidson capturing the doubles point for an early 1-0 lead. The pair of Calum Gee and Joe Schafer halted a two-match losing streak for their fifth win together in taking a 9-8 match to clinch the doubles point.
Chris Mark and Kevin Moore scored the first win of the day with an 8-5 triumph for their fifth win of the season, three of them against league foes.
It was then a battle in singles play as four of the six matches went into a third set with the Bulldogs pulling out three of the four for the 4-3 win.
Gee and Schafer made it a perfect afternoon when they got the Wildcats their second and third points. Gee rolled to a 6-2, 6-3 win at No. 3 for his sixth singles victory of the year. He also evened his conference mark to 2-2.
Schafer halted his personal two-match losing streak with a comeback win. After seeing Carson Kadi score a 6-1 first-set win, the sophomore rattled off a pair 6-4 wins at No. 1 in the next two sets for his team-leading eighth singles win of the season.
Walker Lyons, Arie Hefter and Moore all went the distance, but were unable to pull out the wins in the final set of each match. Lyons started his match with a 7-6 tie-breaker win, but fell 6-2, 6-2 in the last two sets.
Hefter dropped his first set, 6-3, but came through in set two with a 6-4 win to force the third set. The third set went an extra game, but the senior fell short in dropping a 7-5 decision as he dropped his eighth match in a row.
Rounding out the three-setters was Moore, who rolled to a 6-1 first-set win, but saw Alexander Sajonz earn a 7-5 win in the second set at No. 6. Sajonz then sealed the win with a 6-1 decision in the final set.
College of Charleston 7, Wofford 0
CHARLESTON, S.C. - College of Charleston men's tennis swept its second conference opponent in three days on Saturday with a 7-0 victory over Wofford at Patriots Point.
The win marks the 14th consecutive victory over Southern Conference opponents as the Cougars (9-4, 4-0 SoCon) improve to a 5-1 mark at home. CofC won all three doubles matches in addition to the six singles contests for the third time this season. Senior Lukas Koncilia and sophomore Kyle Parker picked up their third straight win as CofC's top seed in doubles with an 8-3 victory over Terriers Tinus Van Wyk and Stuart Robertson to improve to 8-4 on the season.
In singles competition junior Mickael Trintignac and sophomore Stephen Hardy cruised to victories at the second and sixth spots, putting the Cougars up 3-0. Koncilia clinched the match for CofC with a 7-5, 6-1 triumph at the top spot, giving him a 6-6 record on the season as the Cougars top-seeded singles player.
Senior Mickael Boyer won a difficult first set in the tiebreak and followed with a 6-4 win in the second set for his fifth straight win at the No. 5 spot. Fellow senior Tom Delme and Parker battled back after dropping their first sets 5-7 each to win each of their second set and move to a 10-point tiebreaker. Both emerged victorious to complete the Cougars' sweep over the Terriers.
Wofford fell to 6-8 and 2-2 in the conference with the loss.
Elon 4, N.C. Central 0
Elon 4, Binghamton 3
ELON, N.C. - The Elon men's tennis team rewarded the smattering of fans that braved the below-40 degree temperatures with hot chocolate and blankets to see the Phoenix come away with a 4-3 victory over the visiting Binghamton Bearcats (4-13) in a marathon match at The Jimmy Powell Tennis Center on a chilly Saturday afternoon. The match took nearly five hours, including a three-and-a-half hour singles match that tied the score at three and made doubles action necessary. Elon (11-5) also cruised to a 4-0 victory over N.C. Central in a morning match.
"Our teamed showed so much resiliency today, having to rebound after being down 2-0 to Binghamton and win in three sets at number three and six," said Elon head coach Michael Leonard. "Tommy (Darling) and Eric (Turner) showed a lot to come back and win and then we jumped on them in doubles to come away with the win. I am proud of the guys for staying the course on a really long day. We played some of our best tennis at the end of the day despite the rain and cold temperatures, which is difficult to do. We came out fired up and ready to play in doubles to get the win."
With the threat of rain pending, Elon and Binghamton played singles action first in hopes of getting a result before the weather system hit the area. Entertaining singles play developed on most of the courts. The Bearcats held a 3-2 lead with Eric Turner and Gilbert Wong just beginning a third set on court three, the fourth singles match to go to a third set. After Turner dropped the first set 4-6, the junior was serving with the second set tied at 5-5. Turner made it 6-5 before Wong served and forced a tiebreaker. With Elon needing to force a third set, Turner came away with the 7-6 (3) win in the breaker. Turner took the momentum and rolled out to a 5-1 advantage in the third set. Wong battled, but with the match hinging on Turner's result he came away with the 4-6, 7-6 (3), 6-4 victory to force doubles action. The match totaled three hours and 31 minutes, the longest known match in Elon history.
Dusk fell but that didn't phase the Phoenix, who had started competition at 9:30 in the morning. Elon was fired up in doubles play and its top two tandems didn't give Binghamton a chance. With Elon one game away from winning on both courts one and two, a misty rain began to fall and the teams debated whether finishing the match would be possible. Elon's Alberto Rojas and Cody Stauffer-MacDowell took care of business first, knocking off Alexandre Haggai and Arnav Jain, 8-2. With the weather suspending play on court three in a tighter match, Elon was determined to finish things off at number one and get a 'W." Holding a 7-2 advantage, Chase Helpingstine and Philip Nemec won their 10th straight match with an 8-3 match-clinching victory over Sven Vioedgraven and Wong. The 35th ranked team in the country moved to 11-1 on the season.
Binghamton started the match with a quick 2-0 lead after Vioedgraven defeated Nemec at number one singles, 6-3, 6-2 and Alexandre Haggai took a 6-2, 6-4 victory over Helpingstine at number four. Elon got on the board when Rojas battled out a 7-6 (2) set one victory and then finished off a 7-6 (2), 6-2 win over Ruben Haggai on court five. At number six, Elon's Tommy Darling got off to a rough start as Bastian Bornkessel took a 6-1 win in the first set. Darling powered through to break Bornkessel and go up 4-3 en route to a 6-4 set two victory. The sophomore made it a 2-2 match with his 1-6, 6-4, 6-2 win, his third consecutive victory.
One of the most grueling and compelling matches of the afternoon was on court two. Phoenix rookie Cameron Silverman and Binghamton's Jain split the opening two sets, which both were decided with tiebreakers. With Silverman serving for the match at 6-5 in set two, Jain got the break and used the momentum to win the tiebreaker and send the match to a third set. Jain came away with the 6-7 (5), 7-6 (6), 6-3 win to put the pressure on court three. Turner's comeback win set the tone for the Elon doubles pairs.
In morning tennis action, the Phoenix was quick to take the three doubles matches and the early 1-0 lead. Carlos Arboleda and Philip Meyer needed less than 30 minutes for an 8-0 defeat of N.C. Central's Johnny Brown and Christopher Mack at number three. Rojas and MacDowell competed at number one and topped Jack Waissen and Trey Chatman, 8-4. Silverman and Andrew Prince finished the sweep with an 8-3 defeat of Alejandro Espitia and Andres Perez.
Due to the inclement weather, the match was called as soon as it was decided. Elon lost only three games in the three singles matches it won as Darling and Prince each shutout their opponents at number five and six, respectively. Stauffer-MacDowell finished off the match with a 6-0, 6-3 defeat of Espitia on court two.
With an undefeated record in Southern Conference action, Elon will battle the only other league unbeaten when it hosts College of Charleston on Tuesday, March 29 at The Jimmy Powell Tennis Center. Doubles action begins at 2:30 p.m.