Elon 4, College of Charleston 3
ELON, N.C. – Cameron Silverman won a tiebreaker in the third set to put the finishing touches on a 4-3 victory for the Elon University men’s tennis team on Saturday, April 6, against the College of Charleston Cougars.
With the match tied at 3-all, Silverman and College of Charleston’s Brice Allanic were the only two players remaining on the court. Silverman dropped the first set, 6-2, but stormed back in the second for a 6-2 win. Silverman and Allanic battled tooth and nail in the third, ultimately going to a tiebreaker. After trailing early in the tiebreaker, 3-1, Silverman rallied to tie it and eventually win it, 7-6 (7-3), to clinch Elon’s fourth point and the victory as the raucous crowd at the Jimmy Powell Tennis Center erupted.
The Phoenix remains unbeaten in Southern Conference play at 7-0 with the victory, improving to 14-5 overall. College of Charleston drops to 10-7 (5-3 Southern Conference) with the setback.
Elon jumped out to a 1-0 lead after sweeping doubles. Jordan Kaufman and Juan Madrid dispatched College of Charleston quickly at No. 3 with an 8-1 decision to give Elon early momentum. The 34th-ranked tandem of Silverman and Stefan Fortmann clinched the doubles point at No. 1 after posting an 8-3 win versus College of Charleston’s Brice Allanic and Charlie Ghriskey. Robert Lindgren and Brian Kowalski sealed the sweep at No. 2 with an 8-6 victory versus Sebastian Lopez and Crescente Lesser.
Kowalski pushed Elon out to a 2-0 lead at No. 5 singles after quickly topping College of Charleston’s Faiman, 6-1, 6-1.
Fortmann gave Elon a 3-0 lead at No. 2 singles, as the reigning Southern Conference Player of the Month continued his streak of solid play with a 6-4, 6-1, decision versus Lopez. Fortmann improves to 14-4 with the win and has won eight of his last ten matches.
The Cougars came back to tie the match at 3-all, coming up with big wins at No. 4, 6 and 3 to stave off match-point for the Phoenix and gain momentum.
But Silverman battled back at No. 1, coming up with a key victory to clinch the match for the Phoenix. Silverman improves to 13-6 overall and 6-1 against Southern Conference competition with the win.
Chattanooga 6, Appalachian State 1
CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. - Appalachian State men’s tennis dropped its sixth Southern Conference match after falling to Chattanooga, 6-1, on Saturday afternoon at UTC Tennis Courts.
The Mountaineers saw their overall mark fall to 4-13, while their SoCon record drops to 2-6.
UTC (9-6, 4-4 SoCon) started the afternoon by taking doubles for the first team point.
The Mountaineers fought through all three doubles matches, but only No. 2 pair Andrew McKinnon and Jen-Willem Kleynhans managed to capture a win with their 8-4 victory over Chris Smith and John Peacey. App State’s No. 1 and No. 3 teams both fell shy, 8-6, to the Mocs.
Chattanooga pushed through singles play, taking the first five positions and sealing their win.
Matt Saltsgaver was the Mountaineers’ lone singles winner at No. 5. The junior, who is no stranger to tough matches, dropped his first set (2-6), but rebounded with a pair of 6-4 and 7-6 (7-5) wins to wrap up the match and earn the Apps’ only point of the day.
UNCG 6, Georgia Southern 1
GREENSBORO, N.C. – The UNCG men’s tennis team continues a five-match winning streak with a 6-1 victory over Georgia Southern Saturday, April 6 at the UNCG tennis courts.
The Spartans started behind in doubles play when they dropped two out of three matches to the Eagles.
At No. 3, sophomore Cameron Smith and freshman Gaston Murray fell 8-6 to Alex Doherty and Kyle Hoffman.
Freshman Daniel Mack and junior Ahmet Sarioglu lost to Andrew Dromsky and Rayane Djouad at No. 2, 8-5.
Freshman James Dougherty and sophomore Randy Phillips fought at No. 1 in a tiebreaker against Matthijs Verdam and Oliver Webb to earn the only doubles win for the Blue and Gold, 8-7 (7-5).
In singles play, Smith started to turn it around for UNCG when he won in an easy two sets at No. 6 against Daniel Rush, 6-0, 6-3.
Sarioglu defeated Dromsky at No. 1, 6-3, 6-2, before Mack picked up a quick 6-3, 6-3 win against Webb at No. 5.
At No. 2, Dougherty outplayed Djouad in a close three sets when he clinch the match for the Spartans, 6-2, 5-7, 6-1.
Murray battled Codina Sala at No. 3 to win his first set, before falling behind in the beginning of the second set and making a huge comeback to claim the match, 6-4, 7-5.
Phillips ended the match with the sixth singles win for UNCG at No. 4 against Verdam, 6-1, 3-6, 6-3.
Samford 7, Wofford 0
SPARTANBURG, S.C. – The Samford University men’s tennis team extended its Southern Conference winning streak to four-consecutive matches Saturday as the Bulldogs posted a 7-0 victory on the road against the Wofford Terriers at the Reeves Tennis Center.
Samford (11-7, 6-1 SoCon) earned its third straight road victory Saturday and improved its 2013 record away from home to 4-5. The second-place Bulldogs have been triumphant in four-consecutive matches and have not been defeated since suffering a hard-fought 5-2 loss to first-place Elon on March 24.
In its dominant 7-0 win at Wofford (3-11, 1-6 SoCon), Samford took an early 1-0 lead in the match by earning the doubles point. The Bulldogs tallied the initial point of the contest by receiving victories from tandems Elliot Barnwell and Austin Akers, and Fares Kilani and Alex Sajonz.
Samford’s doubles combination of Barnwell and Akers improved to 7-4 this season with an 8-5 win on court No. 2, while Kilani and Sajonz posted an 8-4 victory in the No. 3 contest to also move to 7-4 in dual-match play.
The Bulldogs were triumphant in all six singles matches Saturday to garner the 7-0 SoCon victory. Four of Samford’s six singles wins occurred in straight sets, while No. 112-ranked Zac Dunkle reeled off a 2-6, 7-5, 1-0 (15-13) triumph on court No. 1 over the Terriers’ Rob Galloway.
In the No. 3 singles contest, the Bulldogs’ Kilani rallied for a 2-6, 6-1, 6-1 victory over Wofford’s Jackson Keith. With his win, Samford’s talented true freshman from Tunis, Tunisia, improved to 12-6 in dual play this season.
The Bulldogs’ Barnwell, Sajonz and Laduca were all victorious in straight-set singles wins on courts No. 2, No. 4 and No. 6, respectively.