Wofford 6, Mercer 1
SPARTANBURG, S.C. – The Wofford men's tennis team claimed victory in its home opener as they defeated Mercer University, 6-1, on Sunday afternoon at the John E. Reeves Tennis Center.
With the victory, the Terriers improve to 2-1 overall while the Bears fall to 1-7 overall with the loss.
Wofford gained the early 1-0 advantage sweeping all the doubles matches. Juniors Jackson Keith and Walker Heffron claimed the first win defeating Anderson Scarpa and Joao Pagan, 6-1, at the No. 2 position. The Terriers’ top duo of junior Rob Galloway and freshman Haris Poric defeated Oliver Snaider and Austin Emmit, 6-3 to earn the second victory and sophomore David Sklar and freshman Trevor Gotkowski earned the final win, 6-3, against Arnav and Arsav Mohanty in the No. 3 position.
In singles play, the Terriers earned five points to earn the 6-1 victory. Galloway claimed the first point defeating Snaider, 6-4, 6-2, and Poric earned the second point defeating Scarpa in straight sets, 6-1, 6-1.
Gotkowski then gained the third point at the No. 5 position defeating Manuel De Luis, 6-5 (7-4), 6-1. Sophomore Parks Thompson won the sixth and final point for the Terriers at the No. 6 position defeating Arsav Mohanty, 6-1, 6-3.
The Terriers return to action on Wednesday when they host Spartanburg Methodist College for their second home match of the week at the John E. Reeves Tennis Courts. The match will begin at 3 p.m.
Winthrop 5, Davidson 2
DAVIDSON, N.C. — Returning home after a pair of road matches to open the 2014 season, Davidson was unable to earn a win in its home opener as Winthrop took a 5-2 decision Sunday afternoon at the Knobloch Tennis Center in men’s tennis.
The Wildcats (0-3) opened the matched with solid play in doubles, taking the top two spots to grab a quick 1-0 advantage. The duo of Connor Evins and Zack Zapatero netted their first doubles win with a 6-4 triumph at No. 1, and then Evan Watkins and Ricky Saad sealed up the team point with a 6-2 victory at No. 2.
Robert Lightbourn scored the Wildcats’ second point with a 6-5 (7-0), 6-3 victory at No. 1 singles, but Winthrop (1-1) netted wins at the next five singles positions for the match win.
Davidson did not go down without a fight in all five spots. Watkins pushed his match vs. Juan Pablo Boada to three sets, with two of the sets going to a tie-breaker. The sophomore won the first set, netting a 7-4 tie-breaker win, but Boada came back to net a 7-2 win in the second tie-breaker. The Eagles’ Boada then sealed the win with a 6-1 victory in the third set.
Jordan Hart went to two tie-breakers in his match at No. 4, but fell in both of them by the score of 7-2.
At No. 6, J.B. Gough forced a second-set tie-breaker, but came out on the short end with a 7-4 defeat.
Davidson returns to the road with non-conference matches at Auburn and Alabama A&M next weekend, Feb. 1 & 2.
Coastal Carolina 7, The Citadel 0
CONWAY, S.C. – The Citadel tennis team suffered a 7-0 battle to Coastal Carolina on Sunday at the Billy Nichols Tennis Center.
The Chanticleers claimed the doubles point in the No. 1 and 3 positions. The Bulldog duo of Oliver Dedding and Connor Grady netted their first doubles win in the No. 2 slot over Coastal Carolina's Ted Nilsson and Jabor Al-Mutawa, 8-6.
The Bulldogs didn't back down from Coastal and extended the match for over three hours. Head Coach Chuck Kriese continues to see his team get stronger with each match.
"It was a hard fought match." said Kriese. "We are getting closer to the tipping point that will put us in position to compete with our conference."
The Citadel returns home to host Benedict College and Spartanburg Methodist in a doubleheader on Feb. 8 at the Earle Tennis Center.