Furman 4, Wofford 3
SPARTANBURG, S.C. – The Wofford men’s tennis team lost a very tight match to Furman, 4-3, Wednesday afternoon at the Reeves Tennis Center. The Terriers drop to 3-12 for the year and 1-7 in Southern Conference play, while the Paladins improve to 8-12 overall and 5-4 in conference action.
On the doubles side, Furman swept all three match-ups to claim the doubles point. First, Andrew Mellow and Joel Cook defeated Rob Galloway and Jackson Keith, 8-5, in the No. 1 position. Next, Parks Thompson and David Sklar fell to Jacob Behal and Tyler Droll, 8-2, at the No. 3 spot. The No. 2 match was extremely close as Tom Wood and Walker Heffron were tied with Alex Christ and Matt Browne at seven. However, in the tie-break the Paladin pair got the better of Wood and Heffron to clinch the victory, 8-7.
In singles action, Furman won the first three matches in straight sets to secure the overall victory. First, Luke Synn topped Sklar (6-0, 6-0) in the No. 6 spot. Next, Browne bested Keith (6-3, 6-4) at the No. 3 position. Then, Mellow defeated Galloway (7-5, 6-1) at No. 1 to lock up the win.
However, the Terriers did not give up as they fought to win the remaining three match-ups. At the No. 2 position, Drew Superstein came from behind to battle past Christ to grab the win (3-6, 7-5, 1-0 (10-8)). Then in the No. 4 match-up, Heffron cruised past Cook in a super tie-break (6-4, 3-6, 1-0 (10-3)) to clinch another Wofford point. In the day’s final match, Wood powered past Behal in two hardfought sets (7-6 (7-5), 6-4) at the No. 5 spot, but the match ended 4-3 to Furman.
Elon 6, Appalachian State 1
BOONE, N.C. – The Elon University men’s tennis team clinched at least a share of the Southern Conference regular season title with a 6-1 victory at Appalachian State at the ASU Tennis Courts today, April 10.
Elon improves to 8-2 in league play with the win and clinches at least a share of the title, as UNCG (7-2 Southern Conference) has one league match remaining and Samford (6-2 Southern Conference) has two conference matches left. Elon wins the title outright if either team finishes with three losses.
Elon swept doubles to take an early 1-0 advantage on the Mountaineers. The 43rd-ranked tandem of Cameron Silverman and Stefan Fortmann registered an 8-2 win at No. 1 over Sebastien King and Zach Bost. Robert Lindgren and Brian Kowalski claimed an 8-2 win at No. 2 over Jen-Willem Kleynhans and Andrew McKinnon, while Juan Madrid and Jordan Kaufman recorded an 8-3 win at No. 3 versus Steve Lake and Steve Karendal.
Fortmann, playing at the No. 1 spot today for 56th-ranked Silverman, was the first to finish and extended Elon’s lead to 2-0. Fortmann topped ASU’s King in straight sets, 6-3, 6-1.
Kaufman was the next to finish for Elon, topping Bost at No. 3, 6-1, 7-5, to push the Phoenix out to a 3-0 lead.
Arboleda clinched the match and at least a share of the league’s regular season title for the maroon and gold at No. 6, as the senior topped Appalachian State’s Lake in straight sets, 6-3, 6-3.
Madrid battled Matt Saltsgaver to victory at No. 4, winning in three sets, 6-2, 5-7, 10-3. Kowalski was also victorious in three sets, winning 6-4, 2-6, 7-1, against McKinnon at No. 4.