Davidson 5, Georgia Southern 2
STATESBORO, Ga. - Davidson took five of the six singles matches and opened Southern Conference play with a solid 5-2 win over host Georgia Southern on Wednesday afternoon in men's tennis action.
Davidson (4-5, 1-0 SoCon) opened SoCon play with a win for the first time since defeating The Citadel, 4-3, in 2008. Georgia Southern fell to 1-2 in league play and 1-10 overall.
For just the second time this year, Davidson started down 1-0 after dropping the doubles point. The No. 57 team of Joe Schafer and Calum Gee suffered their second loss of the year with an 8-6 setback at No. 1. It snapped a five-match win streak by the pair.
Connor Evins and Chris Mark kept their win streak intact with an 8-3 victory at No. 3 to push the streak to seven in a row. Davidson though, fell at No. 2 by the count of 8-2 to give the Eagles the early lead. Evins and Mark are 7-0 as a duo in doubles action this season.
The Eagles lead was short-lived, as Schafer, Gee, Evins, Nicky Kunz and Robert Lightbourn all rolled to wins in singles action to give the 'Cats the team victory. Schafer snapped a three-game skid with a 7-6, 7-6 win at No. 2.
Gee and Evins both snapped losing streaks of five and two, respectively, when they tallied 7-5, 6-0 and 6-3, 6-4 victories at No. 4 and 5. Kunz, who had a team and personal-best five-match win streak broken over the weekend at Central Florida, got back on the winning track with a 6-2, 7-6 decision at No. 3 singles.
Lightbourn rounded out the winning day with a three-set triumph, taking a 7-5, 6-7, 6-1 decision at No. 5 for his first SoCon win of his career. Kunz and Evins also matched the sophomore with their first league wins of their careers.
James Madison 7, The Citadel 0
CHARLESTON, S.C. - The Citadel tennis team came up short today against James Madison, as the Bulldogs were downed by the Dukes 7-0. The Dogs fell to 4-5 on the season while JMU improved to 4-4.
Freshman Peter Bleach battled against Ryan Pool in the No. 2 singles slot that went to three sets. Bleach went up early taking the first set 7-6, but Pool fought back to even the match winning 6-2 in the second and 1-0 in the third. The freshman has dropped his last four matches bring his record to 1-7 on the season.
Senior Josh Cook competed in No. 1 singles for the first time this season and fell to Greg Vladimirsky in two straight sets, 6-2, 6-2.
The Citadel's singles leader, Elliott Sperr fell in the No. 5 position to Hugo Ramadier 6-4, 6-2. The sophomore's record has dropped to 6-3 on the season.
JMU claimed the doubles point by sweeping the Bulldogs in in all three positions. David Orces and Bleach fell to Vladimirsky and in the No. 1 slot 8-4, dropping The Citadel duo to a 4-3 record. In the No. 2 position, Dillon Berkabile and James Atkinson fell to Pool and Florent Sentenac 8-4, positioning the Bulldogs pair to 2-3 on the season. In the No. 3 spot, Sperr and Alex Howle were defeated by Jovan Milic and Bastien Russo 8-4 dropping The Citadel tandem to 4-5.
The Bulldogs will return to action at the Earle Tennis Center on Thursday at 1 p.m. against UNC Greensboro, as they seek their first Southern Conference win.