Elon 7, Tennessee Tech 0
ELON, N.C. - The Elon men's tennis team opened up the 2012 home season at the Jimmy Powell Tennis Center in impressive fashion with a 7-0 win over Tennessee Tech today, Feb. 3. The Phoenix improves to 1-2, while the Golden Eagles fall to 1-4.
"It was really good to see the team at full strength today after battling a lot of illnesses recently," said Elon head men's tennis coach Michael Leonard. "It was also Juan Madrid's first collegiate match and to see him compete and come out with a win was great."
Cameron Silverman and Eric Turner got the Phoenix off to a good start at number one doubles with a 8-3 win over Syrym Abdukhalikov and Artem Tarasov. Elon clinched the doubles point after a strong 8-1 win at number three by Stefan Fortmann and Juan Madrid over Alex Chen and Alejandro Bueno. Jordan Kaufman and Andrew Prince completed the doubles sweep on court two with an 8-5 victory over Vasily Eremeev and James Crwaford.
Elon won all six singles matches in straight sets, starting at number five as Kaufman defeated Tarasov, 6-2, 6-1. Fortmann also made quick work of his opponent, Chen, at number two, claiming a 6-3, 6-1 victory to put the Phoenix up 3-0.
Silverman clinched the match win for the maroon and gold by defeating Abdukhalikov, 6-2, 7-5, at number one. On court three, Turner won easily over Bueno by a score of 6-2, 6-4.
In the first singles match of his collegiate career, Madrid picked up the first set over Eremeev at number four, 7-5, before rolling in the second set to a 6-2 victory. Carlos Arboleda sealed the sweep for the maroon and gold with a 6-4, 6-0 win at number six.
The Phoenix will return to action on Sunday, Feb. 5, with a 1 p.m. match against Gardner Webb.
Davidson 7, Wingate 0
DAVIDSON, N.C. - Four Wildcat men's tennis players went a perfect 2-0 on the day in helping Davidson blank visiting Wingate, 7-0, for its first win of the 2012 Spring campaign on Friday evening in Knobloch Tennis Center.
Chris Mark, Ethan Kallick, Nicky Kunz and Robert Lightbourn all won both their singles and doubles matches to score their first wins of the season.
Davidson (1-2) got the early 1-0 lead in the match vs. Wingate (2-2) after giving up just nine games in all three doubles matches. Kallick teamed with Kevin Moore for their first win as a pair, taking an 8-4 decision at No. 1. Mark and Connor Evins picked up an 8-3 victory at No. 2, while Kunz and Lightbourn rounded out the doubles action with a solid 8-2 triumph at No. 3.
Mark led the way in singles, cruising to a 6-1, 6-0 victory at No. 1 over Matthew Lichtenstein, who was ranked 46th in the latest Division II singles rankings.
Lightbourn and Kallick gave up just two and four games, respectively, in their singles matches at the No. 5 and 6 positions. Lightbourn picked up a 6-1, 6-1 victory, while Kallick won 6-2, 6-2, as both sophomores improved to 1-2 on the year.
Junior Joe Schafer improved to 2-1 in singles play with a strong 6-3, 7-5 triumph over Flavio Rathsam at No. 2, while Calum Gee downed Neal Towlson at No. 3, 7-5, 7-5.
Rounding out the strong singles play on the evening was Kunz, who needed an extra set to earn his first collegiate win. The freshman won the first set, 6-2, but fell in a tie-breaker in second set, 7-6 (4). He came back in the third and final set to post a 6-4 victory to seal up his first career win and give Davidson the 7-0 victory.
Davidson takes a week off before playing a doubleheader vs. Richmond (9 a.m.) and Presbyterian (4 p.m.), Feb. 11, at home.
Florida Atlantic 6, Georgia Southern 1
BOCA RATON, Fla. - The Georgia Southern Men's Tennis team fought hard but was unable to come away victorious in its visit to Boca Raton on Friday. The Owls of Florida Atlantic won the match by a 6-1 score.
The Eagles began the match well by securing the doubles point. With the point on the line, the team of senior Sebastien Felt (Vienna, Austria) and freshman Daniel Rush (Orange Park, Fla) grinded out an 8-6 victory at #3 doubles. Another senior/freshman duo, Alain Garrido (Vigo, Spain) and Andrew Dromsky (Martinez, Ga.), picked up the other win for the Eagles with an 8-4 victory at #2 doubles.
However, the Eagles were unable to transfer the momentum of winning the doubles point into singles play. Each match was close, as every player won at least three games in each set, but the team was unable to win another match. Garrido lost a tough three-setter at #2 singles, while Rush and Albert Codina Sala (Manresa, Spain) lost by identical 6-4, 7-6 (3) scores. Kyle Hoffman (Sarasota, Fla.) lost a close one as well at #4 singles, 6-3, 7-6 (4). A two-and-a-half hour rain delay with the match tied at 1-1 was also thrown into the equation.
"We started strong in doubles but gave up early breaks of serve on almost every singles court to start the first sets," said Head Coach Nick Zieziula. "We fought hard but we were never able to regain momentum after that. We've got to have a short memory and clear our heads before another tough match with Florida Gulf Coast on Saturday."
The Eagles continue their Florida road trip on Saturday when they travel to Naples to face Florida Gulf Coast at noon. The trip concludes on Sunday when they face Central Florida at 1:30 p.m.