Elon 4, Winthrop 3
ELON, N.C. – The 44th-ranked Elon University men's tennis team extended its winning streak to five today, March 14, with a 4-3 victory on the road against the Winthrop Eagles.
The Phoenix got on the board first in taking the doubles point with Cameron Silverman and Jordan Kaufman topping Dylan Comerford and Peter Nagovnak on court No. 1 and the pairing of Juan Madrid and Stefan Fortmann earned an 8-3 win on court No. 3.
In singles, Elon got wins on court Nos. 1, 4 and 5. Each of the winning players for the Phoenix have won the Southern Conference Player of the Week award this season—Silverman, Fortmann and Kaufman.
Playing on court No. 1, Silverman defeated Yuta Hirokawa 7-6, 6-2 while Kaufman earned a 6-4, 7-5 win on court No. 5.
Fortmann, the conference's reigning Player of the Week, breezed to a 6-1, 6-0 victory on court No. 5 over Juan Pablo Boada.
Elon returns to action back at the Jimmy Powell Tennis Center on Sunday, March 16, at 1 p.m. against another Big South Conference opponent, the Radford Highlanders. The Phoenix's match against the Highlanders last season was cancelled, but Radford picked up a 5-1 victory in 2012 over the Phoenix.
Florida A&M 4, Appalachian State 3
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – Appalachian State University men’s tennis was unable to earn a decisive fourth points as it fell, 4-3, to Florida A&M on Friday in Daytona Beach.
The Mountaineers (4-6) dropped their fourth-straight match while the Rattlers (7-8) moved one win closer to .500 for the season.
Oliver Casey and Jack Maddocks came away with wins at No. 2 and No. 5, respectively, but Florida A&M was able to come away with three singles wins and the doubles point.
Casey downed his opponent by a 6-1, 6-1 final at No. 2 while Maddocks came away with a clean sweep (6-0, 6-0) at No. 5. Maddocks improved to 6-4 on the year while Casey moved to 5-4.
Matt Saltsgaver picked up a win by walkover at No. 6 as the Rattlers did not field a full squad. The team of Maddocks/Steve Lake also won by walkover at No. 3 doubles.
Appalachian return to play on Tuesday when it travels to Charlotte. The match against the 49ers is set for a 2:30 p.m. start.
UCF 5, UNCG 2
ORLANDO, Fla. - The UNCG men’s tennis team fell to 7-4 on the year after suffering a 5-2 loss to the University of Central Florida Friday at the UCF Tennis Complex.
UCF, who was ranked No. 62 in the ITA rankings, took the first point of the afternoon after sweeping the doubles matches. Amar Hromic and Jesse Flores defeated James Dougherty (Melbourne, Australia) and Randy Phillips (Snellville, Ga./Brookwood) 8-7 (8-6) at no. 1 doubles. At No. 2 doubles, Gaston Murray (Lake Worth, Fla./Park Vista) and Cameron Smith (Jamestown, N.C./Ragsdale) fell 8-0 to Francesc Aulina and Matthew Gladstone. Nazhone Wilkins (Burnsville, Minnesota/Home schooled) and Daniel Mack (Lakeland, Fla./Lakeland) fell to Inaki Espindola and Reece Acree 8-2 at No. 3 doubles.
The Knights went into the singles matches up 1-0. At No. 1 singles, Dougherty defeated Gladstone in three sets 6-1, 6-3, and 2-1 after Gladstone retired.
Phillips fell to Hromic 6-3, 6-4 at No. 2 singles. Murray fell to Aulina in straight sets, 6-4, 6-4 at No. 3 singles.
At No.4 singles, Mack fell 6-2, 6-2. Espindola earned UCF the match point at No. 5 singles with a 6-4, 6-1 win over Smith.
Wilkins earned UNCG’s second point of the afternoon over Jose Sangroniz. Wilkins won the first set 7-5 and after dropping the second set 6-4, bounced back to take set three 6-2.
The Spartans will remain on the road next week as they travel to Greenville, N.C. to take on the Pirates of East Carolina on Thursday, March 20. UNCG next has a pair of SoCon matches next weekend with trips to Furman and Wofford.