Elon 5, College of Charleston 2
ELON, N.C. - In a battle of the Southern Conference unbeatens, the Elon men's tennis team took over sole possession of first place in the conference with a 5-2 victory over College of Charleston on a beautiful spring day at The Jimmy Powell Tennis Center on Tuesday afternoon. Senior Alberto Rojas' three-set singles win at number five clinched the match and extended Elon's (12-5, 4-0) winning streak to six straight. Elon handed CofC (9-5, 3-1) its first league loss of the year and snapped a five-match unbeaten streak.
Matches between these two teams have been tight in recent years, with Elon taking the last meeting in the semifinals of the 2010 Southern Conference Tournament. Elon got off to a strong start in this year's match, sweeping the three doubles matches to grab the early 1-0 lead. The Phoenix has won the doubles point in its last six matches.
At number three, Elon's Cameron Silverman and Eric Turner broke early to grab a 4-1 lead over Mickael Trintignac and Mickael Boyer en route to an 8-4 victory. On court two, Rojas and Cody Stauffer-MacDowell held a 6-4 lead over Tom Delme and Stephen Hardy before breaking serve to go up 7-4 and giving Rojas the opportunity to serve for the match. Rojas delivered and with an 8-4 victory, Elon clinched the doubles point to take a 1-0 lead in the match.
With the final doubles match on serve on court one, 35th-ranked Philip Nemec and Chase Helpingstine broke to take a 3-2 lead over Lukas Koncilia and Kyle Parker. With Elon holding a 7-6 lead and serving for the match, a Nemec ace gave the Phoenix an 8-6 win and a sweep of doubles.
Charleston was able to even the score when Delme came away with a 6-1, 6-3 win against Turner on court three. In the only other straight set match of the day, Silverman earned a 6-2, 6-4 victory over Trintignac at the number two spot, giving the Phoenix a lead it would never relinquish.
In the opening set at number one singles, Nemec grabbed an early break to go up 2-1 and held the 4-3 advantage before Koncilia won three straight games to take the first set, 6-4. Fortunately for Elon, those would be the last games Koncilia would win in the afternoon as Nemec won 12 consecutive games to take the match, 4-6, 6-0, 6-0, and put Elon ahead 3-1.
Competitive tennis continued on the remaining three courts as number four, five and six all split sets. The number five matchup, featuring Rojas and Boyer, was the determining match in last year's league tournament victory and proved the same today. In the first set, Rojas dropped the first two games before winning four straight and eventually taking the first set, 6-3. Boyer rebounded for a 6-4 win in the second set to force a deciding third set. Rojas broke early to grab the 3-1 advantage and had the opportunity to serve for the match at 5-3. Boyer broke Rojas to stay alive, but the Elon senior returned the favor in the next game to clinch the match for the Phoenix with a 6-3, 4-6, 6-4 victory.
At number four, Helpingstine and Parker were midway through a third set when Rojas clinched the match. Helpingstine, who had dropped set two, jumped out to a quick 3-0 advantage and eventually gave Elon the 5-1 lead with a 6-4, 3-6, 6-2 victory. In the final singles match on court six, Tommy Darling fell 6-4 in the first set to CofC's Hardy. Darling found himself down 4-1 in the second set before finding his rhythm and winning six of the next seven games to win the set 7-5 and extend the match. With the match determined, the players used a 10-point tiebreaker to decide the winner with Hardy coming away with the 6-4, 5-7, 1-0 (6) victory.
Wofford 4, Davidson 3
SPARTANBURG, S.C. - The Wofford men's tennis team battled to an exhilarating finish against the Davidson Wildcats, holding on to a 4-3 finish in a crucial Southern Conference match-up. Wofford's Drew Superstein sealed the final singles win for the Terriers after taking his match to three sets and winning in dramatic fashion, beating his opposition in a tie-breaker in the third set.
Wofford improves to a 7-8 record on the season and moves to a 3-2 standing in the Southern Conference. Davidson drops to 4-14 overall and 0-5 in the Southern Conference with the loss.
The Terriers' one win in doubles came from senior duo Alan Donald and Paul Bartholomy. The pair faced Davidson's Ethan Kallick and Walker Lyons at the No. 2 position and won in a tie-breaker 8-7 (3). The Wildcats took advantage of the other two doubles contests, beating our No. 1 and 3, 8-3, in both matches.
After taking the 1-0 lead in doubles play, Davidson extended their lead with a win at the No. 3 singles spot. Wofford's Stuart Robertson lost to Chris Mark 6-2, 6-3 at the third slot.
Despite the 2-0 disadvantage, Wofford grabbed the momentum back after winning the next three singles matches straight. Wofford's three senior captains, Alan Donald, Paul Bartholomy and Michael Schecter demonstrated leadership and poise to help put their team back in the contest with straight-set wins in each singles match. Donald scored Wofford's first point after defeating Arie Hefter 6-3, 7-5 at the No. 4 position. Donald currently leads the team in singles wins with nine.
Bartholomy was next to finish, pushing past Davidson's Kevin Moore 6-4, 6-4 at No. 6 and Schecter posted the Terriers' third point with a 6-4, 6-3 win over Davidson's Calum Gee.
With the score 3-2, Wofford had the opportunity to seal the match with wins from either Tinus Van Wyk or Drew Superstein. Van Wyk had won the first set 6-2 and lost the second set 6-3 and was going into the third set, while Superstein had won the first set 6-4 and lost the second set 6-4 and was also going into the final set.
Van Wyk took his last set to the edge, only allowing Davidson's Joe Schafer a narrow 7-5 win. With the match left in Superstein's hands, his third set was at a 5-5 score. After splitting the next two games, the match came to a tie-breaker. Superstein swept the first six tie-breaker points and finally ended the match, finishing the third set at 7-6 (7-3).
Samford 5, Georgia Southern 2
STATESBORO, Ga. --- In a Southern Conference match that was started Sunday at the Hanner Tennis Complex, the Samford University men's tennis team finally closed out its 5-2 victory against the Georgia Southern Eagles Tuesday. The match was initially postponed Sunday due to rain and was resumed Tuesday after the Bulldogs made the five-and-a-half-hour trek back to Statesboro.
With the win, Samford (13-4, 3-2 SoCon) concluded its arduous two-match road swing with a 2-0 record. On Saturday, the Bulldogs fought to a 4-3 triumph at Davidson in the first match of the four-day stretch. Samford improved to 4-1 in road contests this season with its only defeat occurring Feb. 6 at Georgia State.
Georgia Southern (9-7, 2-2 SoCon) suffered only its second loss in its previous seven matches Tuesday. Since March 8, the Eagles have tallied key victories against Furman, Florida Gulf Coast, Southern Illinois-Carbondale, Liberty and The Citadel. With the defeat, Georgia Southern dropped to 6-3 when playing at home this season.
On Sunday, Samford and Georgia Southern started the dual match with singles play and the Bulldogs earned victories on courts No. 3, No. 4, No. 5 and No. 6. Samford dominated the bottom four matches of the singles contest and received straight-set victories from Carl Abalos, Fernando Costa and Alexander Sajonz.
In the No. 4 singles match, the Bulldogs' Oliver Reynolds outlasted the Eagles' Marco Osorio 6-1, 3-6, 7-5. With the victory, Samford clinched the win and Reynolds improved his team-best record on the season to 13-3.
Tuesday's match was decided after the Bulldogs held a 4-2 advantage following singles play, but the teams agreed to close out the SoCon contest with the doubles competition.
Samford earned victories in two of the three matches to win the doubles point and registered its final 5-2 decision. The Bulldogs' tandem of Zac Dunkle and Sajonz improved their team-best doubles record to 14-2 with a victory on court No. 2, while Samford's pairing of Carson Kadi and Costa cruised to an 8-3 triumph on court No. 3.
The Citadel 7, Lenoir-Rhyne 0
HICKORY, N.C. - The Citadel Tennis team tallied their second-consecutive victory in as many days, as theBulldogs swept Lenoir-Rhyne, 7-0, on Tuesday afternoon.
The Citadel (3-16) blanked the Bears in doubles action collecting wins on all three courts. David Orces and Derek Dickey teamed up to defeat Lenoir-Rhyne's Tommy Brennan and Aroon Khatter at the No. 1 position, 8-4. The freshmen duo of Dillon Berkabile and James Atkinson dominated LRU's Matt Gaines and Nathan Helms, 8-0, at the No. 2 spot, while Josh Cook and Jeremiah Dye downed the Bears' David Jackson and Nate Summer, 8-3.
The Cadets were also successful in singles play as they topped Lenoir-Rhyne (1-10) in straight sets at all six positions. In a rematch of the top doubles spot, Orces defeated Brennan, 6-3, 6-1, at the No. 1 singles position, while at singles No. 2 Dickey beat Khatter, 6-4, 6-0. It took Berkabile just 12 games to down Gaines as he dominated the Bear's No. 3 positioned player by a score of 6-0, 6-0.
At the No. 4 spot, Atkinson extended his win streak to three matches when he defeated Lenoir-Rhyne's Graydon Dunn, 6-4, 6-3. Cook narrowly shutout his opponent at the No. 5 position when he defeated the Bears' Robby Blackburn, 6-0, 6-1, and freshman Elliott Sperr tallied a win at singles No. 6 with a 6-2, 6-3 victory over LRU's Summer.
The Citadel will return to Charlotte, N.C., to face UNC Charlotte on Wednesday for a non-conference contest slated for 2:30 p.m.
Appalachian State 5, Gardner-Webb 2
BOONE, N.C. - Appalachian State University men's tennis tallied its eighth win in nine matches with a 5-2 victory over non-conference foe Gardner-Webb on Tuesday afternoon. ASU's victory boosts its season record to 10-4 while GWU drops to 8-9 this spring.
The Mountaineers snagged an early 1-0 lead by winning 2-of-3 doubles matches.
The duo of Alain Humblet and Philip Kloc cruised to an 8-4 victory against Andrew Veeder and Andrew Carter at the number one doubles, improving their season record to a notable 13-1. At the No. 3 doubles, Ezekiel Sansing and Andrew McKinnon also pulled out a 8-4 win.
Alex Markov and Sebastien King acquired the lone doubles loss for Appalachian, as they lost 8-5 to Julien Belair and Roman Piftor at the number two pairing.
The Black and Gold continued its supremacy in singles play as the Apps grabbed four wins three coming from the bottom No. 3-6.
Kloc, McKinnon and Matt Saltsgaver made quick work of their opponents as each won in straight sets. Kloc tore through Veeder 6-1, 6-4 at No. 3 singles while McKinnon walked his way to a 6-4, 6-2 triumph over Adam Knutsson-Sunblad at number five. Saltsgaver claimed the win for ASU with a 6-2, 6-3 thumping of Matthew Parker.
At the number four position, King fell in two set to Piftor 6-3, 6-2.
After earning a 6-1 first set lead, Humblet surrendered a 7-6 (8-6) second set to Korhan Ates at the number two slot, and the Canadian was unable to rebound in the tiebreaker, losing 10-6.
Markov also drew his match to a third set tiebreaker after winning the first 6-3 and losing the second by the same score. In contrast to Humblet's outcome, the Bulgarian overcame the late surge by Belair to win 10-5 in the third set.
Appalachian takes a few days off before traveling to face UNC Charlotte on Friday at 2:30 p.m.