Davidson 4, Presbyterian 1
Richmond 4, Davidson 3
DAVIDSON, N.C. - Led by the duo of Joe Schafer and Nicky Kunz, the Davidson men's tennis team earned a split in its two matches vs. Richmond (L, 3-4) and Presbyterian (W, 4-1) on Saturday afternoon in the Knobloch Tennis Center.
Schafer and Kunz finished 2-0 in singles play to pace Davidson (2-3), while Schafer teamed with Calum Gee at No. 1 doubles to rattle off their second and third wins of the season as the 19th ranked team in the nation.
Connor Evins and Chris Mark were also perfect in doubles play as Davidson won both doubles points in the two matches to push its team record to 9-4 in doubles action.
After suffering a hard-fought 4-3 defeat to Richmond in the morning, Davidson regrouped to take home wins at No. 1 and 3 doubles spots, and then three singles positions for a 4-1 triumph vs. the Blue Hose (4-2). Schafer and Gee won 8-4, while Evins and Mark scored an 8-5 win to score the doubles point.
Mark rolled to his second singles win with a 6-2, 6-2 decision at No. 1 and Kunz won by the same margin at No. 4. Schafer sealed the win after a 6-3, 7-6 victory at No. 2. The junior is now 4-1 on the season in singles play.
The first match of the day featured a matchup of former assistant coach Ben Johnson returning to Davidson as the head coach of Richmond and it was a battle to the finish.
The 'Cats opened the morning affair with a 1-0 lead after scoring wins at No. 1 and 3 doubles. The tandem of Gee and Schafer picked up their second win of the year with an 8-5 triumph, while Evins and Mark sealed up the point with an 8-6 victory.
Richmond (3-4) came back to take four of the six singles matches to win its third straight match. Schafer gave the 'Cats its second point with a three-set triumph (6-4, 6-7, 6-3) at No. 2 for his third win of the season. Freshman Kunz netted the final team point, allowing just four games in a 6-2, 6-2 win at No. 4.
Davidson finishes up a three-match homestand with an 11 a.m. match against Campbell next weekend, Feb. 18.
Alabama 7, Furman 0
TUSCALOOSA, ALA. - The Furman men's tennis team fell to 47th-ranked Alabama, 7-0, Saturday afternoon at the Roberta Alison Baumgardner Tennis Facility in Tuscaloosa, Ala.
The Paladins picked up a doubles win in the second slot, as sophomores Alex Christ and Joel Cook notched an 8-7(8-6) win over Vikram Reddy and Filippos Tsangaridis, but the Crimson Tide claimed victories in the other doubles matches to seize the doubles point. Ricky Doverspike and Jarryd Botha defeated freshman Jacob Behal and junior Andrew Mellow, 8-6, at number one, while Stuart Kenyon and Harris Barnard beat sophomore Nate Collins and senior Watson George, 8-6, at number three.
The Crimson Tide swept the singles matches, as Botha tallied a 6-2, 6-3 win over Mellow in the top match, and Doverspike beat Christ, 6-2, 6-0 in the second singles match. At number three singles, Behal won set one, 6-2, over 96th-ranked Reddy, before Reddy answered with a 7-6(7-4) win to push the match to a decisive tie-breaker. Reddy then took the tie-breaker, 12-10.
Alabama's Tsangaridis recorded a 6-2, 6-1 win over Cook at number four singles. In the fifth singles match, David Vieyra took a 6-3 win in the first set, before sophomore Robbie Aru put the Paladins in contention with a 7-5 second-set victory. Vieyra won the match with a 10-7 triumph in the tie breaker, then Rens van der Vis completed the sweep with a 7-5, 6-2 win over Nate Collins at number six singles.
Furman (0-5) returns home to face Clemson Wednesday at 3 p.m.
Wake Forest 6, Elon 1
WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. - The Elon men's tennis team continued its challenging non-conference slate on Saturday morning, suffering a 6-1 defeat to 42nd-ranked Wake Forest at the WFU Indoor Tennis Center. Phoenix sophomore Cameron Silverman earned the lone point for Elon (1-3) with a win over #115 Danny Kreyman in the top singles match. Wake Forest improved to 5-4 on the young season.
The doubles point came down to the match on court one after the teams split matches at number two and three. After Wake Forest's Danny Kreyman and Adam Lee defeated Jordan Kaufman and Andrew Prince, 8-3, at number two, Elon rookies Stefan Fortmann and Juan Madrid won their second straight match to even things up. Fortmann and Madrid topped Conner Sherwood and Alex Tsai, 8-4. In a tight match on court one, the home team's David Hopkins and Amogh Prabhakar gave the Demon Deacons the early advantage with an 8-6 victory against Silverman and Eric Turner.
In singles, Turner was forced to retire due to injury. Turner had dropped set one to Prabhakar, but was up 3-0 in the second set when he retired. Wake went up 3-0 with a straight-set victory at number four and then Hopkins provided the match-clinching win with a 6-2, 6-4 defeat of Fortmann on court two.
Two of the final three matches needed a third-set tiebreaker to determine the winner. With the match already decided, a 10-point tiebreak was played instead of a third set. On court five, Kaufman won the first set 6-4, before conceding the second by the same score to Sherwood. In the breaker, Sherwood came away with the 10-8 win.
At number one, Silverman quickly took the first set, 6-3, against Kreyman. The two battled out the second set with Kreyman using a 7-6 (2) score to force the tiebreaker. Silverman finished the match and earned the 6-3, 6-7 (2), 10-7 decision.
Due to the windy, cold conditions, Elon will head back to the Wake Forest Indoor Tennis Center tomorrow morning to host the Princeton Tigers at 10:30 a.m.
Southern Miss. 4, Samford 2
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. --- In its third match in three days, the Samford University men's tennis team battled with all of its might Saturday, but ultimately dropped a 4-2 decision against the Southern Miss Golden Eagles in a hard-fought, non-conference contest held at the Samford Tennis Center.
"This team showed great heart and desire the last three days," said Samford head coach Rahim Esmail. "Our backs were up against the wall many times, and we did not give up. We are doing a lot of things well right now, and we need to keep focusing on the process and building momentum to give ourselves the chance to be playing our best tennis in April."
Samford (3-2) dropped its second straight match against a Conference USA opponent Saturday after the Bulldogs fell short in a nail-biter versus UAB on Friday, 4-3. Friday's contest, which was a six-hour marathon held at the Samford Tennis Center, came down to the final singles match and wasn't finished until nearly 10 p.m.
The Bulldogs bounced back from the heart-breaking loss and came out firing against Southern Miss (3-2) just 13 hours later at 11 a.m. (CST) Saturday.
Samford opened the contest with a quick 8-2 doubles victory from Zac Dunkle and Alexander Sajonz on court No. 1, but the Golden Eagles rallied for a pair of identical 8-5 wins on courts No. 2 and No. 3. By securing two of the three doubles victories, Southern Miss jumped out to an early 1-0 lead in Saturday's contest.
In singles play, the Bulldogs received straight-set wins from Elliot Barnwell and Sajonz, while Ryan Shidler's match on court No. 6 was suspended in the third set. Barnwell, Samford's talented sophomore from Mancetter, United Kingdom, cruised past the Golden Eagles' Juan Escobar, 6-0, 6-2, on court No. 3 to improve to 5-0 this season.
"Barnwell did a great job today in singles, as he is playing with a lot of confidence," Esmail said. "Southern Miss played a great match and a lot of credit goes to their players. They fought hard."
Despite Samford's wins on courts No. 3 and No. 5, Southern Miss tallied victories on three of the other courts to register its 4-2 non-conference triumph.
The Samford University men's tennis team will next be in action Wednesday at 1:30 p.m. (CST) as the Bulldogs travel to Jacksonville, Ala., for an in-state duel against the Jacksonville State Gamecocks. The non-conference contest will be held at the JSU Tennis Courts.
Liberty 5, Georgia Southern 2
GREENVILLE, N.C. - The Georgia Southern Men's Tennis team was unable to start the road trip to North Carolina on the winning track. It fell to Liberty, 5-2, on Saturday afternoon in Greenville.
The Eagles (1-5) started the match well by securing the doubles point. After dropping the match at #3 doubles, the junior/freshman duo of Matthijs Verdam and Kyle Hoffman evened the doubles session by winning with a score of 8-5 at No. 1 doubles. The Eagles' senior/freshman duo, Alain Garrido and Andrew Dromsky, came through in the clutch and won the point with a 9-7 victory at No. 2 doubles.
Despite winning the doubles point, the Eagles were unable to carry their momentum into singles play. Garrido kept his match close at No. 1 singles but fell 6-3, 6-4, to Siim Tuus. Verdam had a similar result, losing 6-4, 6-2, at No. 2 singles. Hoffman fought valiantly but ultimately lost in a third-set match tiebreaker at No. 4 singles, 7-5, 4-6, 10-8. Dromsky provided the Eagles with their only singles victory, coming from behind to win in three sets at #5 singles, 3-6, 6-3, 6-3.
The Eagles have been fighting hard but just haven't been able to string enough victories together for a match win over the last five matches. "We're doing a good job of sticking together and fighting as a team, but we can't keep committing the unforced errors that we are and expect to turn things around," said Head Coach Nick Zieziula.
The Eagles will play their second consecutive match in Greenville on Sunday when they take the courts against the Pirates of East Carolina. First serve is set for 11 a.m.