Furman 4, Florida A&M 0
Florida State 4, Furman 0
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – The Furman men’s tennis team blanked Florida A&M, 4-0, Sunday morning, then fell to 36th-ranked Florida State, 4-0, in the afternoon to conclude the Seminole Quad in Tallahassee, Fla.
The Paladins clinched the doubles point to open the match versus the Rattlers. Freshman Adam Steryous and junior Jacob Behal teamed up for a 6-2 win over Zach Evenden and Courage Okungbowa at number two, and sophomores Ben Horst and Matt Browne combined to top Roberto Ortiz and August Waitman, 6-2, at flight three. The flight one match was unfinished.
In singles play, Browne moved into the number one spot and beat Evenden, 6-0, 6-2, while Steryous recorded a 6-0, 6-0 victory versus Roberto Ortiz at flight three. Rookie Juan Sheppard bested Waitman, 6-0, 6-2 at flight five, and the remaining singles matches were unfinished.
The Seminoles jumped out to a quick lead in doubles in the afternoon match, as Dominic Cotrone and Blake Davis bested seniors Alex Christ and Joel Cook, 6-2, at flight one, and Michael Rinaldi and Grayson Goldin teamed up for a 6-4 victory over Browne and Horst at number three.
Florida State swept three singles matches for the team win, as Cotrone notched a 6-0, 6-1 win over Browne at flight one, then Goldin registered a 6-3, 6-4 victory over Cook at number five. Davis beat Sheppard, 6-2, 6-4, at flight four for the decisive point.
Furman (3-1) will play at Clemson Friday at 4 p.m.
Elon at Wolfpack Invite
RALEIGH, N.C. – Finishing out the opening tournament of the 2014 spring season, the Elon University men’s tennis team took on 35th-ranked NC State in singles Sunday, Jan. 12, at the J.W. Isenhour Tennis Center. The Phoenix struggled through tough matches, but ultimately went 0-10 on the day.
“Overall, it was a good weekend,” said Elon head coach Michael Leonard. “We lost a lot of tight matches today against a really good NC State team, but there were a lot of competitive matches. We lost a couple three-set matches and tiebreakers but we can build on that in the upcoming season.”
Cameron Silverman, ranked No. 25 in the nation, took No. 50 Austin Powell the distance on court No. 1, but fell 6-2, 5-6, 6-4. Stefan Fortmann also went three sets on court No. 2, but fell to Sean Weber 6-5, 5-6, 6-2.
The only other match to go all three sets was on court No. 4 where Robert Lindgren battled Nick Horton, the No. 83 player in the country. Horton held Lindgren off in the third set to pick up the 6-4, 5-6, 6-4 win.
The Wolfpack Invite, hosted by NC State, included players from Elon and William & Mary. Elon completed singles competition against the Tribe Friday and doubles competition Saturday before taking on NC State in doubles Saturday and singles Sunday.
The tournament was the first live action in which Elon used the new Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) scoring system, which includes the elimination of ad points, creating more high-pressure points.
“The best thing about the weekend was we got to play a lot of tennis against good, quality opponents and we got to test out the new tennis scoring format,” Leonard said. “It was good for our team to get in that environment and see it because you can talk about it as much as you want but until you see it, you can’t really grasp it.”
Elon returns to action Friday, Jan. 17, when it travels to Durham, N.C. for its first dual match of the season to take on the seventh-ranked Duke Blue Devils at the Sheffield Indoor Tennis Center. The Phoenix opened the 2013 spring season against then-No. 5 Duke and fell 9-0 to the Blue Devils.