Wofford 6, Davidson 1
DAVIDSON, N.C. — Off for 11 days, Davidson returned to the hard courts in a Southern Conference men’s tennis match at home against Wofford, but came out on the wrong end of a 6-1 decision Thursday afternoon at the Covington Tennis Courts.
The Wildcats (3-11, 0-3 SoCon) fell to the Terriers (7-7, 2-1 SoCon) for just the ninth time in 22 meetings dating back to 1989. They had won two of the past three meetings, including a first round match last year in the SoCon Tourney.
It was a closely contested match to open the afternoon in doubles action with all three positions going down to the wire. Each match had the score of 8-6, but Davidson was only able to capture one of them. The pair of Robert Lightbourn and Connor Evins won their second in a row together with their victory coming at No. 1.
The battle between both squads continued into singles action, but the Wildcats only team point came from No. 3 Ethan Kallick. The senior netted his fourth win of the season with a solid 6-3, 7-5 decision over Walker Heffron.
At the other five singles slots, the Wildcats were able to win some games, but came up short in all of the sets. Evins saw his two-match win streak halted when he fell 6-4, 6-2 at No. 2.
Fellow senior Lightbourn went to a pair of tie-breakers in his two sets, but came up without a win in either of them.
J.B. Gough won a 6-1 first-set decision, but saw Trevor Gotkowski win the next two sets by the scores of 6-3 in both at No. 4 for the victory.
The pair of Alex Howard and Evan Watkins also battled through in their singles matches at No. 5 and 6 positions. Howard scored wins in nine games, but dropped a 7-5, 6-4 match, while Watkins went to a tie-breaker first-set, but lost, and then was shutout in the second set.
UNCG 5, East Carolina 2
GREENVILLE, N.C. - The UNCG men’s tennis team started their road trip off on the right note with a 5-2 win over East Carolina Thursday at the ECU Tennis Complex.
The Spartans earned the doubles point with wins at the No.1 and No.2 doubles matches. James Dougherty and Randy Phillips defeated Collin Roller and Mario Martinez 8-7 (7-5) at No. 1 doubles. At No. 2 doubles, Ahmet Sarioglu and Daniel Mack (Lakeland, Fla./Lakeland) defeated Joran Villegen and Miles Holvoet 8-6. At No. 3 doubles, Nazhone Wilkins (Burnsville, Minn./Homeschooled) and Jimmy Roueche (Greensboro, N.C./Grimsley) fell to Patriek Wolterbeek and Nicolas Soriano 8-6.
With a 1-0 lead, UNCG went into singles play without Dougherty. At No. 1 singles, Villegen defeated Sarioglu 6-1, 6-2 to tie the match at 1-1.
Phillips gave the Spartans another point with a 7-5, 6-3 win over Martinez. At No. 3 singles, the first set between Gaston Murray and Damien Brenard required a tiebreaker, but Murray came out on top 7-6 (7-3) and then secured the point with a 6-3 set two victory.
Things were all tied at two after Daniel Mack fell to Soriano 6-2, 6-2 at No. 4 singles.
Yet, the Spartans had a strong showing from the bottom of the lineup as both Cameron Smith and Wilkins earned wins at the No. 5 and No. 6 spots respectively. Smith defeated Blake Gregory in three sets. Smith took set one 6-0, but Gregory forced a third set with a 7-6 (7-3) set two win. Smith was able to lock down the match victory with a 6-3 set three win. Despite falling in the first set 6-3, Wilkins bounced back to take set two 7-5, and set three 6-3.
UNCG will get back to conference play this weekend as they travel to Furman and Wofford. The Spartans will take on the Paladins in Greenville, S.C., Saturday March 22 at 2 p.m. and battle the Terriers in Spartanburg, S.C. Sunday at 1 p.m.