Furman 6, Chattanooga 1
GREENVILLE, S.C. -- The Furman men’s tennis team picked up its first Southern Conference win of the season with a 6-1 victory over Chattanooga Friday at the Mickel Tennis Center in Greenville, S.C.
The Paladins won the top two doubles matches to clinch the opening point. Junior Alex Christ and rookie Matt Brooke topped Ankit Chopra and John Peacey, 8-4, at flight one, and sophomore Jacob Behal and senior Tyler Droll defeated Roberto Vieira and William Disterdick, 8-3, at number two. The Mocs were victorious at flight three, as Manuel Barroetavena and Jackson Tresnan recorded an 8-4 win over sophomore Luke Synn and senior Andrew Mellow.
Furman won five out of six singles matches, as Mellow bested Vieira, 6-4, 7-5, at flight one, and Browne notched a 6-4, 3-6, 6-1 advantage over Chopra in the number three spot. In the flight four contest, Behal beat Chris Smith, 6-2, 6-2, and Synn posted a 6-2, 1-6, 6-4 win versus Pavels Grigorjevs at number five. Droll came from behind to defeat Tresnan, 3-6, 7-6 (7-2), 1-0 (10-6), at flight six to round out the Paladin victories.
Chattanooga’s lone singles win came at flight two, where Barroetavena defeated Christ, 7-6 (7-5), 6-2.
UNCG 5, Appalachian State 2
BOONE, N.C. – The UNCG men’s tennis team advanced its record to 10-2 and 4-4 in the SoCon after beating conference foe Appalachian State, 5-2 Friday, March 29 at the Grandfather Mountain Country Club.
The Blue and Gold started off strong winning two out of three doubles matches to win the doubles point.
Freshman James Dougherty and sophomore Randy Phillips teamed up at No. 1 to win 8-6 against Sebastien King and Zach Bost.
Freshman Daniel Mack and junior Ahmet Sarioglu picked up an 8-6 win against Andrew McKinnon and Jen-Willem Kleynhans at No. 2.
At No. 3, sophomore Cameron Smith and freshman Gaston Murray lost to Steve Lake and Karendal, 8-5.
In singles play, Sarioglu won in a close 7-5, 7-5 match at No. 1 against King, while Dougherty dropped a close second-set tiebreaker at No. 2 to Karendal, 6-4, 7-6 (4-0).
Murray beat Zach Bost at No. 3, 6-4, 6-3. Phillips won an easy 6-2, 6-1 match against McKinnon at No. 4.
Mack defeated Matt Saltsgaver at No. 5, 7-5, 6-2, while Smith dropped his match at No. 6 against Kleynhans, 7-5, 6-1.
Samford 7, Davidson 0
DAVIDSON, N.C. – The Samford University men’s tennis team opened its critical two-match road trip in dominant fashion Friday as the Bulldogs posted a lopsided 7-0 triumph against the Davidson Wildcats in a late-season Southern Conference contest held at the Covington Tennis Courts.
Samford (8-7, 2-1 SoCon) improved to 2-5 in road matches this season and tallied its second 7-0 triumph of the 2013 campaign. Earlier this year, the Bulldogs also registered a 7-0 triumph over Eastern Kentucky at home on March 10.
Davidson (10-7, 4-4 SoCon) earned a win in the No. 1 doubles match, 9-7, on Friday, but Samford proved to be victorious in the remaining eight contests of the afternoon.
The Bulldogs tallied triumphs on doubles courts No. 2 and No. 3 to claim the first point of the match. Samford then received singles victories from Zac Dunkle, Elliot Barnwell, Fares Kilani, Alex Sajonz, Austin Akers and Garrison Laduca to complete the 7-0 team sweep.
With his victory on court No. 5, the Bulldogs’ Akers improved his team-best record in singles play to 10-4 this season. Kilani, Samford’s talented true freshman from Tunis, Tunisia, also reached the 10-win plateau in singles play this year as he posted a 6-3, 6-3 victory over Davidson’s Chris Mark on court No. 3. Kilani now owns a 10-5 singles record this season.