Elon 5, Wofford 2
SPARTANBURG, S.C. – With a 5-2 victory over the Wofford Terriers today, April 6, the Elon University men's tennis team clinched at least a share of the Southern Conference regular season championship.
Elon, the 49th-ranked team in the country and the only undefeated side in SoCon play at 8-0, can clinch its second straight outright regular season title and complete the perfect run through conference play this week when it hosts Appalachian State at the Jimmy Powell Tennis Center Wednesday, April 9, at 3:30 p.m. Elon is a perfect 6-0 at home this season.
Cameron Silverman, ranked No. 36 in the nation, clinched the match for the Phoenix on court No. 1, as the team's lone senior recovered after dropping the second set to win the 6-1, 3-6, 7-5 thriller. Silverman now has 58 singles dual match wins in his illustrious career at Elon, which is six behind the program record of 64.
The table was set for Silverman to clinch the match with the Phoenix winning the doubles point, then Jordan Kaufman and Brian Kowalski winning singles matches to make it 3-0. Kaufman took his match on court No. 5 by a score of 6-2, 6-0 while Kowalski won 6-3, 6-3 on court No. 4.
The Phoenix needed to come from behind to secure the doubles point after Silverman and Kaufman fell 8-7 (7-2) on court No. 1. Fortmann and Madrid won 8-6 on court No. 3 to pull Elon back even with Wofford, then Kowalski and Lindgren topped Trevor Gotkowski and Walker Heffron on court No. 2 by a score of 8-5 to clinch the point.
Stefan Fortmann finished the match by picking up Elon's fifth point with a 7-5, 4-6, 6-4 victory on court No. 2 over Haris Poric. Fortmann is now 8-0 since the beginning of March, but this was his first match that went longer than two sets.
Wofford's two points against the Phoenix marks the most of any SoCon team this season. Previously, Elon had only ceded a point to Davidson on March 9, UNCG on April 2 and yesterday against Furman. In Sunday's match, Robert Lindgren dropped a tight 4-6, 6-3, 7-6 (10-8) match on court No. 3 while Juan Madrid lost a 7-6 (12-10), 6-0 decision on court No. 6.
UNCG 7, Davidson 0
GREENSBORO, N.C. — Playing its final road contest of the regular season, Davidson dropped a 7-0 decision to the UNCG Spartans in a men’s Southern Conference tennis match at UNCG Tennis Courts Sunday afternoon.
The Spartans pushed their record to 12-6 overall and 5-2 in league play, while Davidson fell to 5-15 and 2-6 in SoCon action.
The Wildcats dropped all three doubles decisions by the scores of 8-4, 8-6 and 8-5. They hung tough in singles action, but UNCG prevailed at all six positions to earn the team win.
Eathan Kallick pushed his match to a super tie-breaker in the third set after splitting his first two sets, 6-7, 6-4. His day ended there with a 10-3 defeat in the super tie-breaker at No. 3.
Evan Watkins and Ricky Saad netted wins of seven and five games, respectively, in their matches, but fell short in both. Watkins lost 6-3, 6-4 at No. 5, while the freshman Saad in his eighth career match dropped a 6-3, 6-2 decision at No. 6.
Appalachian State 4, Chattanooga 3
BOONE, N.C. – Appalachian State University men’s tennis topped Southern Conference rival Chattanooga by a score of 4-3 on Sunday at the Appalachian Tennis Courts.
The Mountaineers (8-11, 5-2 SoCon) snapped a three-match losing streak while the Mocs (6-12, 1-7) fell for the fifth-straight time in league play.
Appalachian took the doubles point as it won all three matches. Steve Lake/Jack Maddocks cruised to an 8-4 win at No. 3, while Oliver Casey/Daniel Hoang won 8-3 at No. 2. The No. 1 pairing of Zach Bost/Sebastien King sealed the sweep with an 8-6 win.
Maddocks continued his doubles form in singles play and earned the Mountaineers their first singles point with a 6-0, 6-0 win at No. 5 to move to 11-8 in his freshman season. At the No. 4 slot, Hoang trailed by a score 6-3, 5-3 before losing the match by default.
Casey won his No. 2 contest 6-2, 6-4 and Jan-Willem Kleynhans earned the clinching point with a 6-4, 6-4 win at No. 6. Casey improved 12-6 to on the year, while Kleynhans moved to 6-4 in singles play this season.