Furman 4, Georgia Southern 3
GREENVILLE, S.C. -- The Furman men's tennis team slipped past Georgia Southern, 4-3, Sunday at the Mickel Tennis Center in Greenville, S.C., earning the Paladins' second Southern Conference victory of the season.
The Eagles (1-17, 0-7 SoCon) came out strong early, clinching the doubles point with wins in the top two matches. Alain Garridon and Andrew Dromsky combined to defeat sophomores Alex Christ and Joel Cook, 9-7, in the top match, and Kyle Hoffman and Daniel Rush beat juniors Andrew Mellow and Tyler Droll, 9-7 at number two. Paladin freshman Luke Synn and sophomore Nate Collins picked up a win at number three doubles, beating Albert Codina Sala and Sebastien Felt, 8-6.
Furman (5-12, 2-2 SoCon) quickly turned the tides in singles play, as Christ defeated Hoffman, 6-3, 6-3, at number two, and Mellow beat Garrido, 6-4, 6-4, in the top contest to give the Paladins a 2-1 advantage. Marco Osorio tied the match for Georgia Southern with a 6-2, 2-6, 6-1 win over freshman Ryan Miller, but the Paladins put together back-to-back wins to clinch the victory.
Synn notched a 6-3, 6-4 triumph over Rush at number five, then Droll garnered the decisive win with a 6-4, 7-5 victory over Condina Sala at number four. In the final match of the day, Dromsky came from behind to defeat Cook, 5-7, 6-3, 7-6 (9-7) in the third-seeded match-up.
Appalachian State 5, Davidson 2
DAVIDSON, N.C. - Sophomore Connor Evins pushed his personal-best singles win streak to seven straight, but it was not enough to help the Wildcats to their third win in a row as they fell 5-2 to Appalachian State on Sunday afternoon in men's tennis Southern Conference action at Covington Tennis Courts.
Evins ran his record to 8-2 with his first career three-set win by earning a 6-1, 4-6, 6-2 at No. 6 singles to score one of the two team points for Davidson (6-9, 2-3 SoCon). The sophomore's win streak is the longest since Calum Gee rattled off nine straight during the 2010 campaign.
Appalachian State (8-5, 2-1 SoCon) earned the team win with victories at two of the three doubles slots and then captured wins at the top four singles positions.
The No. 1 team of Calum Gee and Joe Schafer picked up their ninth win together, and third straight, with an 8-6 triumph. Davidson was held to one game each in falling 8-1 at both the No. 2 and 3 spots.
Picking up the Wildcats' other team point was Robet Lightbourn, who won his fourth singles match in a row. The second-year player also took home a three-setter, winning his third of the season with a 6-7, 6-2, 6-3 decision at No. 5. He has now netted all eight of his wins at No. 5 (8-4), improving to 8-6 overall.
The Wildcats played strong at the top four singles spots, taking the Mountaineers to a pair of three-setters by Nicky Kunz (3-6, 6-3, 7-5) and Chris Mark (7-5, 3-6, 6-2), but was unable to prevail.
Chattanooga 4, The Citadel 3
CHARLESTON, S.C. - David Orces, Peter Bleach and Elliott Sperr claimed individual victories as The Citadel tennis team fell to Chattanooga by a close decision, 4-3. The Bulldogs dropped to 4-13 on the season and 0-6 in the Southern Conference while the Mocs improved to 12-4 overall and 3-2 in the SoCon.
Bleach, in the No. 5 spot, earned his second consecutive win and his first Southern Conference success of his tennis career. The Citadel freshman defeated Pavels Grigorjevs in an evenly-matched two-set match, 7-6, 7-5. With the victory, Bleach is now 3-12 on the season.
Orces, who has competed in the No. 1 position all season, earned himself another victory to extend this winning streak to seven consecutive matches. Orces defeated rival Chris Smith 6-4, 6-2 and netted his 10th dual win on the year and fourth Southern Conference victory.
In the No. 6 slot for the Bulldogs, Sperr defeated Stephen Crofford 6-3, 6-3 to improve his record to 8-9. Sperr is second in wins for The Citadel behind Orces.
College of Charleston 5, Chattanooga 2
MT. PLEASANT, S.C. - The College of Charleston men's tennis team overcame two rain delays to put away Chattanooga, 5-2, on Sunday night under the lights at the CofC Tennis Center at Patriots Point.
The Cougars (9-3, 4-0 SoCon) remained undefeated in Southern Conference play and have now won two in a row and seven of their last eight.
CofC swept the doubles point for the fifth time this season to take the early 1-0 lead over the Mocs (11-5, 2-3 SoCon). Chattanooga's Pavels Grigorjevs would equalize the match with a straight-set victory over sophomore Brice Allanic, 7-6 (2), 6-1, at No. 5 singles.
Rain hampered singles play thereafter for the next two hours and for another 15-minute period after the courts had been dried. The Cougars quickly built a 3-1 advantage as senior Mickael Trintignac defeated UTC's top player Chris Smith in straight sets, 6-4, 6-4, at No. 1 followed by junior Kyle Parker in a three-setter over Ankit Chopra, 6-2, 4-6, 6-3, at No. 3.
Needed one more point to decide the match, all three remaining singles courts would go into three sets with freshman Alon Faiman clinching the nearly eight-hour match with a 6-1, 6-7 (4), 7-5 decision over Stephen Crofford at the No. 6 line. Faiman is currently 7-1 on the season in dual-match play including a perfect 4-0 league mark.