SPARTANBURG, S.C. – Furman’s Matt Browne has been named the Southern Conference’s Men’s Tennis Player of the Week for all matches played March 25-31.  Brown went 5-1 combined in singles and doubles play last week as the Paladins went 2-1 in conference play.  Furman narrowly dropped its first match of the week to Georgia Southern (4-3) before earning victories over Chattanooga (6-1) and The Citadel (7-0).

Browne was a perfect 3-0 for Furman at No. 3 singles last week.  The freshman earned a three-set win over GSU’s Matthijs Verdam (6-3, 3-6, 6-3) before outlasting Chattanooga’s Ankit Chopra, 6-4, 3-6, 6-1.  Browne closed singles competition last week with a 6-3, 7-6 victory over The Citadel’s Peter Bleach.

Paired with Alex Christ at No. 1 doubles, Furman’s top pair of Browne and Christ went 2-1 last week.  After falling to Verdam and Oliver Webb of GSU (8-5), Browne and Christ posted an 8-4 victory over UTC’s Chopra and John Peacey.  Furman’s duo closed the week with an 8-5 victory over The Citadel’s David Orces and Oliver Dedding.

Furman (5-12, 2-4 SoCon) returns to the courts Wednesday when the Paladins host Appalachian State (4-11, 2-4 SoCon).

Other top performers in the Southern Conference included Elon’s Stefan Fortmann, Georgia Southern’s Andrew Dromsky, UNCG’s Gaston Murray, Samford’s Alex Sajonz and UTC’s Manuel Barroetavena.

SoCon Men’s Tennis Player of the Week
Feb. 12 – Manuel Barroetavena, UTC
Feb. 19 – James Dougherty, UNCG
Feb. 26 – Fares Kilani, Samford
March 5 – Cameron Silverman, Elon
March 13 – Joe Schafer, Davidson
March 19 – Cameron Silverman, Elon
March 26 – Sebastien King, Appalachian State
April 2 – Matt Browne, Furman