Elon 7, Samford 0
ELON, N.C. – The Elon University men's tennis team stayed unbeaten in Southern Conference play Saturday afternoon, March 8, and picked up its third straight victory with a 7-0 win against the Samford Bulldogs at the Jimmy Powell Tennis Center.
Juan Madrid clinched the win for the Phoenix on court No. 6 with a 6-3, 6-1 win over Liam Sullivan. He followed Fortmann by a matter of seconds, who beat Trey Carter 6-2, 6-2 on court No. 4.
Both players used momentum in their singles matches gained from the doubles match the two played against Austin Akers and Fares Kilani. Fortmann and Madrid used back-to-back breaks late in the set to earn an 8-5 win on court No. 3 that got Elon halfway to winning the doubles point.
The Phoenix polished off the doubles point with a win on court No. 1 from Cameron Silverman and Jordan Kaufman. The duo used early breaks to go up 6-1 on Carter and Henry Moore, then held on for the 8-4 victory to put Elon up 1-0.
Kaufman also used the momentum gained in his doubles match on singles court No. 5 against Moore, as the junior was the first Elon player off the court with a 6-4, 6-2 win.
Elon finished the sweep of the Bulldogs with wins from Silverman, Robert Lindgren and Brian Kowalski on court Nos. 1, 2 and 3, respectively. Silverman, the 26th-ranked player in the country, beat Elliot Barnwell by coming from behind after dropping the first set, 3-6, to win the last two sets both by scores of 6-2.
Lindgren took a 7-6 (7-3), 6-4 win on court No. 2 over Kilani. The sophomore got a break of Kilani to finish off the match.
Kowalski also needed to come from behind against Akers on court No. 3 as the junior quickly dropped the first set, 2-6, before winning the second set handedly, 6-1, and the super tiebreaker 10-2.
Georgia Southern 4, Davidson 3
STATESBORO, Ga.— The Davidson men’s tennis team came up just short in its conference opener at Georgia Southern 4-3, Saturday at the Wallis Tennis Center.
Continuing with their season-long six-match road trip, Davidson (3-9, 0-1 SoCon) played its second straight 4-3 match, but came out on the wrong end of this one. They also saw their four-match win streak in the all-time series vs. the Eagles (3-9, 2-1) come to an end.
Down 1-0 after falling in all three doubles matches, though they were close affairs at 8-6, 8-6 and 8-4, Davidson tied it up on a singles win by senior Connor Evins. He netted his team-best sixth win with a straight-set 6-4, 6-3 victory at No. 2.
The Eagles came back to earn wins at positions No. 3, 4 and 1 to seal up the team victory.
Scoring the other two team points for the ‘Cats were J.B. Gough at No. 5 and Ricky Saad at No. 6. The duo pushed their personal win streaks to two apiece. Gough needed a third set after falling in the first set, 6-1. He regrouped to net 6-3 and 6-4 decisions in the next two sets to earn his fourth win of the season (4-3).
Saad earned his second collegiate win by taking home a 6-4, 6-2 decision.
Chattanooga 5, The Citadel 2
CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. - The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga men’s tennis team won its first conference match of the season against The Citadel at the Champions Club this afternoon. After losing the doubles point the men’s tennis team flipped the switch and took five straight in singles for the 5-2 victory.
“Any SoCon win in any of our sports at Chattanooga is an awesome feeling, and our guys deserved it today,” head coach Carlos Garcia said.
UTC was unable to win in doubles, dropping two of its three matches. The doubles team of Pavels Grigorjevs and Gino Delavalle defeated their opponents at No.2 but were alone in that triumph.
Chattanooga turned up the heat for singles competition winning the first five matches off the court. Sophomore John Peacey stuck first with a (6-3, 6-1) win at No. 5, evening the playing field and tying the match at 1-1.
Sophomores Luke Saunders and Gino Delavalle and freshman Derrick Brown followed right behind, winning their singles matches and earning the victory for Chattanooga.
Stanford 7, Furman 0
STANFORD, Calif. – Stanford blanked Furman, 7-0, Saturday at the Taube Family Tennis Stadium in Stanford, Calif. The Paladins picked up one doubles win and forced tiebreakers in the top two singles matches.
The Furman duo of senior Joel Cook and sophomore Matt Browne defeated John Morrissey and Yale Goldberg, 8-4, at flight two doubles, and Trey Strobel and Jamin Ball topped sophomore Ben Horst and senior Alex Christ, 8-2, in the number three doubles match-up, forcing a decisive top-seeded contest. The Cardinal’s Daniel Ho and Robert Stineman held off freshman Adam Steryous and junior Jacob Behal, 8-3, in the top flight to clinch the opening point.
Stanford swept the singles, as Morrissey defeated Steryous, 4-6, 6-1, 1-0(8), at flight one, and Ho held off Browne, 7-5, 6-7(5), 1-0(11), at number two. Strobel recorded a 6-2, 6-3 win versus Behal in the number three match-up, while Anthony Tsodikov bested Christ, 6-4, 6-1, at number four. In the bottom part of the lineup, Stineman notched a 6-2, 6-2 win over junior Luke Synn at flight five, and Goldberg defeated Cook, 6-2, 7-5, at number six.
Furman (6-5, 1-0 SoCon) continues its Spring Break trip this week with a 6 p.m. match at Pepperdine on Tuesday.