Appalachian State 5, Georgia Southern 2
STATESBORO, Ga. – Appalachian State University men’s tennis scored a 5-2 win over Southern Conference rival Georgia Southern on Sunday at the Wallis Tennis Center.
The Mountaineers (5-8, 2-0 SoCon) snapped a six-match losing streak while the Eagles (3-13, 2-3) dropped their fourth-straight match.
Appalachian set the tone early as it easily won the doubles point with wins at No. 1 and No. 2 doubles. The team of Sebastien King/Zach Bost grabbed an 8-2 win at the No. 1 spot while the tandem of Oliver Casey/Daniel Hoang scored an 8-1 win at No. 2.
Casey and Hoang also won their singles matches as Casey cruised to a 6-3, 6-2 win at No. 2 and Hoang earned a 7-5, 6-3 win at No. 3. Casey improved to 7-5 on the season while Hoang moved to 6-7 and stayed unbeaten in SoCon play.
Jack Maddocks continued his impressive freshman campaign with 7-5, 6-3 win at No. 5 to improve to 7-6 on the year. Jan-Willem Kleynhans bounced back from a first-set loss to earn a win at the No. 6 spot (5-7, 6-4, 6-1) as he moved to 3-1 in singles play this year.
Davidson 5, Chattanooga 2
CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. — Wrapping up a busy week, Davidson finished in winning style by earning its first Southern Conference triumph of the season with a 5-2 decision over Chattanooga on the road Sunday afternoon in men’s tennis.
The Wildcats (4-12, 1-4 SoCon), who snapped their four-match losing streak, were playing their third match in the past four days. They won for the third time in the past four matches in the all-time series against Chattanooga (5-8, 1-3 SoCon).
The pair of Evan Watkins and Ethan Kallick was the lone doubles team to win to start the day, earning a 7-3 tie-breaker victory to take home an 8-6 decision. It was the duos second win in a row.
Down 1-0, Davidson charged back with strong straight-set wins at No. 1 and 3 singles. Robert Lightbourn halted a personal 10-match losing skid with a nice 6-4, 6-1 victory at the top singles position.
Kallick rattled off a 6-2, 6-2 decision at No. 3 to win his second in a row and improve to 6-7 overall, 3-2 in SoCon play.
Connor Evins, J.B. Gough and Watkins sealed up the team win with three three-set victories at No. 2, 4 and 6 singles, respectively. Evins evened his record to 8-8 (3-2 SoCon) with a well-played 5-7, 6-4, 7-6 win at No. 2.
Gough followed with a hard-fought three-set victory, going to tie-breakers in the second and third sets. He took home a 6-2 first-set win, but fell in his first tie-breaker in the second set to force a third set. The final set went the distance, with Gough prevailing for the win.
Watkins won his second singles match of the season with the ‘Cats’ final third set victory. The sophomore took home a 4-6, 6-2, 6-0 win at No. 6.
UNCG 4, Wofford 3
SPARTANBURG, S.C. – After a tough battle with the Spartans of UNCG, the final point came down to the final singles match but the Terriers were unable to grab the victory as the Wofford men’s tennis team was defeated by the Spartans, 4-3, Sunday afternoon. The match was played indoors at the Westside Club due to rain.
With the loss, the Terriers fall to 6-8 overall and 2-2 in the Southern Conference. UNCG improves to 9-5 overall and 3-1 in conference play with the victory.
In doubles play, Wofford grabbed the first point with a win by freshman Haris Poric and junior Walker Heffron, 8-5, at the second doubles match. The Terriers fell on the top court as James Dougherty and Randy Phillips won 8-6, tying the doubles point at 1-1. Junior Jackson Keith and sophomore David Sklar would clinch the doubles point for Wofford as they won two straight points in a 6-6 match to win 8-6. The Terriers took an early 1-0 advantage winning the doubles point.
In singles play, junior Rob Galloway got things started as he gave Wofford a 2-0 lead beating Ahmet Sarioglu, 6-2, 6-1 on the top court.
The Spartans then made a two-point comeback to tie the match at 2-2.
Randy Phillips won, 6-3, 6-1, on the third court to bring the match within one at 2-1. Dougherty had to fight hard and be on point to win UNCG’s second point of the match. He battled and had to play a set tiebreak against Poric in the first set, 7-6 (8-6), before he went on to earn the point winning 6-3 in the second set.
Wofford regained the lead 3-2 on the fifth court. Keith dealt with Daniel Mack as he won, 6-1, 6-2. The Spartans tied the match again and again it wasn’t easy. Gaston Murray had to win two straight sets, including a set tiebreak after trailing freshman Trevor Gotkowski at the No. 4 singles position, but he prevailed winning 2-6, 7-6 (7-0), 6-2.
Cameron Smith clinched the match and won the final point for UNCG winning in another tough match on the sixth court, 7-6 (7-5), 6-1. Sophomore Parks Thompson fought to force a first set tiebreak, but he was unable to beat Smith in the second set.
Elon 7, The Citadel 0
CHARLESTON, S.C. – With a solid performance across the board today, March 23, the 39th-ranked Elon University men's tennis team defeated The Citadel 7-0 at the Earle Tennis Center.
No Elon player dropped more than five games in his respective match on the way to the sweep with Brian Kowalski dropping just one game and Juan Madrid losing two. Kowalski was first off the court for Elon with his 6-1, 6-0 victory on court No. 4. He was followed by Madrid on court No. 6, who beat Connor Grady 6-0, 6-2.
After faltering in his last match against Radford, Jordan Kaufman rebounded nicely with a 6-1, 6-4 victory on court No. 5 over Oliver Dedding. He was followed by Robert Lindgren, who earned a 6-2, 6-2 win on court No. 3 over Peter Bleach.
Cameron Silverman, ranked No. 38 in the country, also rebounded from a tough outing against Radford with a 6-3, 6-2 win on court No. 1 over Elliot Sperr.
Stefan Fortmann, the Southern Conference's back-to-back Player of the Week, clinched the sweep of the Bulldogs with a 6-2, 6-1 victory on court No. 2 over Dillon Berkabile. Fortmann has now won six straight singles matches for the Phoenix.
Elon started the match by winning the doubles point with an 8-3 win from Silverman and Kaufman on court No. 1 and a 8-0 sweep from Madrid and Fortmann on court No. 3. Kowalski and Lindgren dropped their match on court No. 2 by a score of 8-6.