Chattanooga 6, Georgia Southern 1
STATESBORO, Ga. -- Georgia Southern Men's Tennis was not able to cap off their season with a win on Senior Day on Sunday afternoon at the Hanner Tennis Complex. In their last home match of the year, the Eagles (10-8, 6-4 SoCon) fell 6-1 to Chattanooga (11-8, 6-4 SoCon), dropping the doubles point and three early singles matches. The Eagles honored seniors Alex Doherty and Matthijs Verdam prior to the match.
Continuing a stellar freshman campaign, Rayane Djouad picked up the only singles victory for the Eagles. The rookie outlasted opponent Roberto Vieira 6-1, 0-6, 6-4 at the No. 1, improving his overall record to 14-2 (9-2 SoCon).
Djouad was also successful in doubles as he picked up the lone win with partner Marco Osorio at the No. 2. The duo defeated John Peacey and Chris Smith 8-6.
The Eagles created an early deficit after losing the doubles point and two matches on court three and five before dropping the match at No. 2.
Samford 7, The Citadel 0
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – The Samford University men’s tennis team closed out its regular-season schedule in impressive fashion Saturday as the Bulldogs cruised to a 7-0 Senior Day victory against The Citadel Bulldogs in a Southern Conference finale held at the Samford Tennis Center.
With Saturday’s triumph, Samford (12-9, 7-3 SoCon) finished the 2013 campaign with an 8-2 record at home. The Bulldogs also registered their sixth shutout victory of the season. Earlier this year, Samford tallied similar lopsided wins against Jacksonville State, 4-0, Eastern Kentucky, 7-0, Davidson, 7-0, Chattanooga, 7-0, and Wofford, 7-0.
The Citadel (7-13, 0-10 SoCon), which is coached by former Samford standout Oliver Reynolds, had its losing streak extended to four straight matches Saturday. Since earning back-to-back victories against Nebraska-Omaha, 6-1, and Coker, 6-3, the Cadets have dropped consecutive contests to Furman, 7-0, College of Charleston, 5-2, Chattanooga, 5-2 and Samford, 7-0.
In Saturday’s home finale, the Bulldogs tallied doubles wins on courts No. 2 and No. 3 to take an early 1-0 lead in the contest.
Samford then received straight-set victories from Zac Dunkle, Elliot Barnwell, Fares Kilani, Alex Sajonz, Austin Akers and Garrison Laduca to post the lopsided 7-0 triumph.
Kilani, the Bulldogs’ reigning SoCon Player of the Week, earned a 6-2, 6-4 victory over The Citadel’s Peter Bleach to improve his team-best record in singles play to 15-6 and 8-2 against SoCon opponents. Samford’s Akers moved to 13-7 on Saturday, while Barnwell and Sajonz both improved to 13-8 in dual-match play this season.
Davidson 4, Furman 3
GREENVILLE, S.C. — Down 3-1 in its final regular season match, Davidson stormed back to capture the last three team points and take a 4-3 road victory at Furman to spoil the Paladins’ Senior Day on Saturday afternoon in men’s Southern Conference tennis action at the Mickel Tennis Center.
The Wildcats finished out 11-8 overall and closed at an even 5-5 in SoCon play, while ending Furman’s (8-13, 5-5 SoCon) five-match win streak.
It was just the third win in the all-time series since 1988 for the ‘Cats and they earned the win in impressive comeback fashion. They started the match off with a 1-0 lead after sweeping the doubles, which all went down to the wire.
The No. 1 team of Kevin Moore and Chris Mark netted their team-best ninth doubles win with an 8-6 victory. The No. 2 and 3 teams for Davidson needed an extra game to finish Furman off. Joe Schafer and Ethan Kallick used a tie-breaker to move to 7-6 on the season, including 5-5 in SoCon play, while Robert Lightbourn and Nicky Kunz tallied a 9-8 win. The duo moved to 7-4 on the season.
Much like the doubles, the singles play was a battle to the finish with three of the six matches going into a third set. The Paladins grabbed a 3-1 lead with three straight wins at No. 1, 3 and 6, taking all three in straight sets. Chris Mark nearly forced a third set going to a tie-breaker in set two, before falling 7-3 to lose 6-3, 7-6.
Connor Evins started the come back with his fourth three-set victory of the year. He dropped the first set 6-2, but regrouped for a pair of 6-4 wins in the next two sets to run his singles record to 9-7, 6-4 in SoCon action.
Following Evins was Kunz, who netted his own three-set victory. The sophomore needed a tie-breaker in the final set, but prevailed 7-4 to win the match 6-3, 2-6, 7-6.
Robert Lightbourn then closed things out for Davidson by winning his fifth three-set match of the season with a 5-7, 6-3, 6-4 triumph at No. 4 singles to seal up the team win. The junior snapped a personal three-match skid to improve to 6-10 and win his third league match of the year.
Appalachian State 4, Wofford 3
SPARTANBURG, S.C. – The Wofford men’s tennis team fell to Appalachian State in a 4-3 heartbreaker Saturday afternoon in their regular season finale. All six singles match-ups went to three sets.
The Terriers fall to 3-14 overall and 1-9 in the Southern Conference, while the Mountaineers improve to 6-14 and 3-7 in conference play. Before the match, Wofford honored seniors Drew Superstein and Tom Wood for their contribution to the men’s tennis program over the past four years.
In doubles action, the Terriers won all three match-up to claim the doubles point. First, Jackson Keith and Tom Wood cruised past Steve Lake and Steve Karendal, 8-3, in the No. 3 position. Next at the No. 2 spot, David Sklar and Parks Thompson outfought Andrew McKinnon and Jan-Willem Kleynhans, 8-6. Then, Rob Galloway and Walker Heffron defeated Zach Bost and Sebastien King, 8-6, at No. 1.
On the singles side, Wofford extended their lead to 2-0 after a three set victory by Galloway over Karendal (6-3, 3-6, 6-3) at the No. 1 position. Appalachian State cut the lead to one after a hard fought win by Kleynhans over Graham Duncan. Duncan dropped the first set 6-1, but he came back to win the second 6-2. The third set was very close and had to be decided by a tie-break. In the tie-break, Kleynhans got the better of Duncan, 9-7, to bring the Mountaineers within one.
The Terriers extended their lead to 3-1 after a come from behind victory by Drew Superstein over King. King claimed the first set 6-1, but Superstein roared back to win the second 7-5. Then in the third set, Superstein maintained his momentum to win 6-3.
Appalachian State won the next two matches to tie the score at three. First, Bost topped Keith (6-4, 2-6, 6-1) in the No. 3 spot. Then, McKinnon bested Heffron (6-3, 4-6, 6-2) at the No. 4 position. The overall result was decided by the day’s final match-up. At No. 5, Wofford’s Wood and Appalachian State’s Matt Saltsgaver battled for over three hours. In a marathon first set, Saltsgaver outlasted Wood 13-11 in a tie-break to take the lead. However, Wood stormed back to win the second set 6-2.
In the decisive set, neither player was able to build a lead bigger than one game. First Wood led 1-0, then 3-2, but Saltsgaver tied the match at three, four, and then took the lead 4-3. Wood rallied again take a 5-4 edge, but could not close out the match. Then tied at six, both players prepared for a tie-break to decide the match. In the tie-break, Saltsgaver built an early lead that Wood was unable to overcome. Saltsgaver escaped with the win (7-6 (13-11), 2-6, 7-6 (7-3)) and secured the team result for the Mountaineers.
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