Appalachian State 7, Davidson 0
LINVILLE, N.C. – Appalachian State University men's tennis cruised to an easy 7-0 victory over Southern Conference foe Davidson on Wednesday at Grandfather Mountain Country Club.
The Mountaineers (4-8, 2-1 SoCon) dominated the Wildcats (8-6, 2-3 SoCon) on the afternoon, dropping just one set all day long.
Sebastien King came away with a 6-3, 7-5 win over Nicky Kunz at the No. 1 spot while Steve Karendal notched a 6-3, 6-2 victory at No. 2 singles.
Zach Bost earned a 7-6, 7-6 win against Chris Mark at the No. 3 flight while Andrew McKinnon snagged a 7-5, 6-3 decision at the No. 4 spot.
Matt Saltsgaver gave the Apps a 7-6, 6-4 win at No. 5 and Jen-Willem Kleynhans rounded out singles action with a hard-fought 6-7, 6-4, 10-6 win over Ethan Kallick.
In doubles play, the Mountaineers got an 8-4 win at the No. 1 spot where King and Bost were victorious while McKinnon and Kleynhans grabbed a 9-8 victory at No. 2 doubles. Karendal and Steve Lake snagged a 9-8 victory at the No. 3 doubles position.
Appalachian State returns to action on Friday when it plays host to Georgia Southern at 2 p.m.
Wofford 4, The Citadel 3
CHARLESTON, S.C. – David Orces, Peter Bleach and Elliott Sperr claimed individual victories as The Citadel tennis team was edged by Wofford in a 4-3 decision Wednesday afternoon at the Earle Tennis Center.
The Bulldogs dropped to 5-8 on the season and 0-6 in the Southern Conference while the Terriers earned their first conference win and improved to 3-8 overall and 1-3 in the SoCon.
Wofford began the afternoon securing the doubles point with wins in the No. 1 and 3 positions. Alex Howle and Bleach paired up for the third time this season and earned their second SoCon wins as a duo defeating Jackson Keith and Tom Wood, 9-7.
In the No. 3 slot Bleach finished off Keith in straight sets, 7-6, 6-3 and claimed the first point for the Bulldogs on the day. The South African native jumped above the .500 mark to reach a 7-6 record.
With just three matches in play, Wofford earned the win clinching the fourth point as Walker Heffron defeated James Atkinson (3-6, 7-6, 6-3) after following behind in the first set.
In the No. 5 position Sperr earned his first conference win of the season defeating Graham Duncan, 7-6, 4-6, 6-1.
Orces, in the No. 1 spot, netted his eighth win with a victory over Rob Galloway, 3-6, 6-3, 7-5.
The Citadel has a short turnaround as it plays in a doubleheader Thursday in Hilton Head, S.C., against New Jersey Institute of Technology at 11:30 a.m., followed by Nebraska-Omaha at 3 p.m.
College of Charleston 7, Nebraska-Omaha 0
MT. PLEASANT, S.C. – The College of Charleston men’s tennis team extended its winning streak to five matches with a 7-0 sweep of Nebraska-Omaha this afternoon at the College of Charleston Tennis Center at Patriots Point.
With the win, CofC’s record improves to 7-6 while the Mavericks drop to 3-5.
The Cougars got off to a strong start in doubles when all three CofC tandems claimed wins to clinch the doubles point.
The team carried the momentum over into singles when freshman Zack Lewis started the action with a 6-1, 6-1 victory over Matt Frost of the Mavericks on Court 5.
Sophomore Sebastian Lopez followed suit when he dispatched Connor Larson 6-0, 6-1 on Court 2.
Then, on Court 4, sophomore Alon Faiman sealed the overall win for the College when he knocked off Carlos Ramos Salazar 6-1, 6-0.
“This was a good day for the team, it’s nice to be back at home to start this stretch of home matches,” CofC Head Coach Jay Bruner said. “We got some great effort out of all of the guys today and that bodes well going into tomorrow’s match against UMBC.”
CofC will square off against UMBC on March 21 at 3 p.m. (ET) at the College of Charleston Tennis Center.
Elon 4, Dartmouth 3
ELON, N.C. – It came down to the wire, but the Elon University men’s tennis team battled the visiting Dartmouth Big Green to a 4-3 win on Wednesday, March 20, at the Jimmy Powell Tennis Center for its fifth straight win.
Tied at 3-all with one match remaining on the court, Elon’s (9-4) Brian Kowalski pulled out the three-set victory for the Phoenix, rallying for a 3-6, 6-3, 6-4, decision over Dartmouth’s Brandon DeBot at No. 5 singles. With Kowalski’s win, Elon improved to 9-4 on the year with the victory over the Big Green.
“Today was a good win over a solid Dartmouth team with a lot of depth,” said Phoenix head coach Michael Leonard. “I am extremely proud of Brian Kowalski and the heart he showed out there to pull out the final match that gave our team a win. We performed well in doubles today and our top guys really played well again and gave us a great opportunity to be in the match.”
The Phoenix won the doubles point to take an early 1-0 lead against the Big Green. Cameron Silverman and Stefan Fortmann, ranked 34th in the nation as a doubles team, were the first to finish at No. 1, topping Xander Centenari and Brandon DeBot, 8-4. Kowalski and Robert Lindgren clinched the doubles point with an 8-5 decision versus Brendan Tannenbaum and Alex de Chatellus at No. 2.
Fortmann continued his solid play in singles to extend Elon’s lead to 2-0 after defeating Chris Kipouras at No. 2 in straight sets, 6-4, 6-0. Fortmann has won eight straight matches and improves to 10-2 on the year with the win.
Silverman was the next to finish for the maroon and gold, as the nation’s 38th ranked singles player claimed a 6-1, 6-3, victory at No. 1 versus Dartmouth’s Centenari.
The Big Green stormed back to take the next three singles matches to tie the match at 3-all, but Kowalski proved to be resilient at No. 5 singles for the Phoenix, earning his fifth straight win.
Elon returns to action on March 23 at Chattanooga.
Tulane 6, Samford 1
NEW ORLEANS, La. – The 57th-ranked Samford University men’s tennis team suffered a second straight road defeat Wednesday as the Bulldogs dropped a 6-1 decision to the Tulane Green Wave in a South Regional contest held at the City Park Pepsi Tennis Center.
"I am extremely disappointed in our performance today,” said Samford head coach Rahim Esmail. “Tulane is a very good team and they outplayed us in every aspect. If we want to continue to be successful, we need to bring a lot more to the table than we brought today.”
With the loss, Samford (7-6) completed its two-match, spring break road trip with an 0-2 record. On Monday, the Bulldogs fell short in a hard-fought 4-3 contest at Louisiana-Lafayette.
So far this season, Samford owns a 1-5 record when playing away from home. The Bulldogs’ lone road victory this year was a historical 4-3 triumph against the No. 45-ranked Alabama Crimson Tide held in Tuscaloosa, Ala., on Feb. 6. Samford’s win over Alabama snapped a 52-year, 31-match losing streak in the series.
With Wednesday’s victory, Tulane (10-4) extended its season-long winning streak to six-consecutive matches. Since falling at SMU on March 3, 4-3, the Green Wave has posted consecutive victories against College of Charleston, 6-1, UAB, 4-3, Youngstown State, 6-1, Nicholls State, 6-1, Louisiana-Lafayette, 4-3, and Samford, 6-1.
Tulane swept the doubles competition versus Samford and then posted singles victories on the top five singles courts to claim its 6-1 team win.
Green Wave freshman Dominik Koepfer extended his singles winning streak to 14-consecutive matches Wednesday and remained undefeated this spring with a 14-0 record. Koepfer posted a 6-1, 6-1 win over Samford’s Elliot Barnwell on court No. 2 to earn Tulane's second point of the afternoon.
Joe Young won for the second straight outing to clinch the match for the Green Wave. The senior defeated the Bulldogs’ Fares Kilani, 7-5, 6-3, on court No. 3. Rodrigo Rappaccioli and Alex Van Cott also earned singles wins for Tulane.
Samford’s lone point of the match was earned on court No. 6 as junior Garrison Laduca tallied a 6-4, 4-6, 1-0 (6) triumph over the Green Wave’s Adam Bernstein. With his victory, Laduca improved to 6-6 in singles play this season and extended his team-best winning streak to four-consecutive triumphs.
The Samford University men’s tennis team will next be in action Sunday at 9 a.m. (CDT) as the Bulldogs return to Southern Conference play against the Elon Phoenix in a key league battle to be held at the Samford Tennis Center.