Appalachian State 4, Richmond 3

CONWAY, S.C. – Matt Saltsgaver picked up a hard-fought victory at No. 6 singles and clinched a 4-3 win as Appalachian State University men's tennis finished its weekend with a win over Richmond on Saturday.

The Mountaineers (3-2) remained undefeated in doubles play, taking the first point of the match for the fourth time this season to take an early 1-0 lead over the Spiders (3-7).

Appalachian picked up an 8-6 win at No. 1 doubles from the team of Sebastien King/Zach Bost as well as an 8-4 victory at the No. 3 spot from Jan-Willem Kleynhans/Steve Lake. The Apps also led 7-6 at the No. 2 spot as Oliver Casey/Daniel Hoang were in position to sweep doubles, but the match went unfinished as Appalachian State had already clinched the doubles point.

In singles play, Richmond was able to grab an early lead as it won at both No. 1 and No. 2 singles, but Hoang tied the match at 2-2 as he took a 6-2, 6-3 win at No. 3. After trading blows at the next two spots, which included a 3-6, 6-2, 6-1 win for Appalachian's Jack Maddocks at No. 5, Saltsgaver clinched the win for the Mountaineers by taking a 7-5, 1-6, 6-3 win at No. 6.

In the process, Saltsgaver improved to 3-1 on the season while the tandem of Bost/King remained undefeated in doubles play.

UNCG 7, UNC Asheville 0

GREENSBORO, N.C. - The UNCG men’s tennis team took down UNC Asheville, 7-0, Saturday at the UNCG Tennis Courts. 

The Spartans took the first point of the afternoon with a doubles win. At No. 1 doubles, James Dougherty and Randy Phillips defeated Brett Landau and Alex Croker 8-4. Ahmet Sarioglu and Daniel Mack took down Daniel Kripak and John Schubel 8-2 at No. 2 doubles. Nazhone Wilkins  and Gaston Murray fell to Josh Swindler and Thomas Panoulas-Orestis, 6-3.

Phillips earned the Spartans the second point of the afternoon at No. 3 singles after beating  Alex Croker in straight sets, 6-1, 6-0.

At No. 5 singles, Mack defeated Schubel 6-3, 6-4. Cameron Smith beat Swindler 6-2, 6-3 at No. 6 singles.

Murray wrapped up fourth, with a 6-2, 6-4 win over Landeau at No. 4 singles.

Dougherty took the first set at No. 2 singles against Panoulas-Orestis 6-3. Dougherty fell behind early in set two, but came back to take the set and the match with a 7-5 set two win.

At No.1 singles, Sarioglu won set one over Kripak 6-2. It was a hard fought second set, but Sarioglu fell 6-7, (4-7). In the third set tiebreaker, Sarioglu won 10-7. 

With the win, UNCG pushes above .500 at 3-2. The Spartans will be back at it Sunday afternoon as they welcome Gardner-Webb to UNCG Tennis Courts.

Chattanooga 7, North Alabama 0

CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. - The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga men’s tennis team posted a 7-0 sweep of visiting North Alabama today.  The Mocs made quick work of the Lions on a perfect afternoon for competition at the UTC Tennis Courts. 

Chattanooga grabbed a 1-0 lead, winning two of three matches to take the doubles point.  UTC went on to win all six singles in straight sets, improving to 2-5 on the year and snapping a four-match losing streak.  North Alabama, an NCAA Division II member of the Gulf South Conference, fell to 1-4.

"It was nice to come out and play well today," stated head coach Carlos Garica.  "We have had some tough losses on the road and have been a bit unlucky, but today we were aggressive from the start and our guys played really well."

Freshmen Austin Boaz and Derek Brown set the pace in doubles with their (8-4) win over Ali Murad and Rob Whitsitt at No. 3.  Senior Jorge Varon and sophomore John Peacey clinched the point with an 8-6 win over Guillaume Dechoz and Aliaksei Kavalenka at No. 1. 

Peacey was first off in singles at No. 5, followed by straight set wins from sophomore Luke Saunders at No. 3 and the clincher at No. 4 from sophomore Gino Delavalle.  Brown won at No. 6 and Varon scored his second straight victory at No. 1.

The toughest match of the day came at No. 2 between Chattanooga junior Pavels Grigorjevs and UNA’s Benjamin Poire.  Poire led 6-5 in the first, but Girgorjevs battled back to force a tie breaker.  He won that extra frame 7-4 to take the first set 7-6.  Grigorjevs was up 3-0 in the second, but Poire fought back to 5-4.  Grogorjevs broke Poire to win the second set 6-4.

Georgetown 5, Davidson 2

BURKE, Va.  — Coming off a thrilling win Friday night, Davidson was unable to carry the momentum over to Saturday in falling 5-2 at Georgetown in the Burke Racquet and Swim Club in the Wildcats’ final match up in Virginia for men’s tennis.

The Wildcats (2-7) were coming off a 4-3 comeback win Friday vs. the Patriots, but the Hoyas (5-3) halted any chances the ‘Cats had by taking the doubles point and four of the six singles matches in both teams first-ever matchup.

After earning 6-3 and 6-1 doubles wins to open the match, Georgetown had wins at No. 1, 2, 4 and 5 singles.

Scoring the two team points for the Wildcats were Ethan Kallick and J.B. Gough. The senior Kallick won his second straight with a 6-3, 6-3 win at No. 3, while Gough, who was the hero Friday, rolled off a 6-5, 6-4 triumph at No. 5 for his second win in a row as well.

Connor Evins saw his four-match win streak come to an end as he moved up to play the No. 1 spot and fell 6-3, 6-2.

Pushing their matches to a third set was Robert Lightbourn (2-6, 6-5, 3-6) and Evan Watkins (1-6, 6-4, 2-6) at No. 2 and 4 singles, respectively.

Davidson takes some time off before heading to play at USC-Upstate, March 3, for a 1 p.m.