College of Charleston 4, Furman 3
GREENVILLE, S.C. - The College of Charleston slipped past Furman, 4-3, Wednesday in Southern Conference men's tennis action at the Mickel Tennis Center in Greenville, S.C.
Brice Allanic and Charlie Ghriskey defeated Paladin junior Joel Cook and senior Andrew Mellow, 8-4, in the top doubles match to open play, before Furman senior Tyler Droll and sophomore Jacob Behal held on for a 9-7 victory over Alon Faiman and Zack Lewis at number three doubles. In the decisive flight two match-up, College of Charleston's Sebastian Lopez and Crescente Lesser notched a 9-7 win versus freshman Matt Browne and junior Alex Christ to clinch the doubles point.
In singles action, Mellow quickly bested Allanic, 6-1, 6-1, at number one to put the Paladins on the board. Lewis recorded a 7-5, 6-3, win versus Droll in the flight six match, and Ghriskey topped Behal, 6-4, 3-6, 6-0, in the flight four contest to give the Cougars a 3-1 advantage.
Cook's 6-2, 3-6, 6-0 win over Lesser at number three singles cut the deficit to 3-2, but Lopez came from behind to clinch the match for College of Charleston with a 4-6, 6-3, 6-3 victory versus Christ. At number five, Browne closed out a 7-6, 4-6, 6-3 win over Faiman.
Samford 4, UNCG 3
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. - The 61st-ranked Samford University men's tennis team used a strong performance in singles play Wednesday to earn a hard-fought 4-3 Southern Conference victory over the UNCG Spartans in a pivotal league contest held at the Samford Tennis Center.
Samford (7-4, 2-0 SoCon) lost the doubles point Wednesday, but rallied to notch four crucial wins in singles play.
After the Bulldogs' Austin Akers and Garrison Laduca cruised to straight-set victories on courts No. 5 and 6, respectively, Samford's Fares Kilani came from behind to topple the Spartans' Randy Phillips in the No. 3 singles contest, 4-6, 6-4, 6-2. Kilani's triumph gave the Bulldogs a 3-2 advantage in the match and improved his record on the season to 8-3.
Samford's match-clinching victory occurred on court No. 2 as senior Elliot Barnwell battled to a 7-6(3), 5-7, 6-2 win over UNCG's James Dougherty.
With their key SoCon triumph, the Bulldogs remained undefeated in conference play this season and extended their winning streak to three-consecutive matches. Samford also improved its near-perfect record at home this year to 6-1.
UNCG (7-1, 2-1 SoCon) suffered its first loss of the season Wednesday, including its second straight 4-3 decision to the Bulldogs. Last year, Samford tallied a similar 4-3 victory over the Spartans on the road in Greensboro, N.C.