Furman and ETSU Advance To Men's Tennis Final

ETSU 4, Samford 1
Furman 4, Wofford 1

GREENVILLE, S.C. – ETSU and Furman  will square off Sunday in the 2015 Southern Conference Men’s Tennis Championship final.  The top-seeded Bucs advanced to Sunday’s match with a 4-1 win over No. 4 Samford, while No. 2 Furman held off No. 6 Wofford, 4-1, to advance.

The Bucs picked up wins at No. 2 and No. 3 to claim the early 1-0 in doubles play.  Ismael Merino and Robert Herrera defeated Austin Akers and Henry Moore, 8-3 at the No. 2 position.  Sebastian Yllera and Conner Huertas claimed an 8-6 win over Fares Kilani and Justin Ghavami, 8-6 at No. 3 doubles.

ETSU claimed a 2-0 lead when Yllera knocked off Edouardo Lourido in straight sets (6-3, 6-0).  Samford got on the board with a 6-4, 6-3 win from Trey Carter at No. 3 singles.

From there the Bucs picked up two more wins to claim the match.  Herrera secured a 6-4, 7-6 (7-2) win over Jake Faundez at No. 6 just minutes before David Biosca clinched the victory for ETSU with a come-from behind three-set win over Fares Kilani (3-6, 6-2, 6-3) at No. 1.

The Paladins secured the doubles point with wins at No. 1 and No. 3.  Matt Browne and Ben Horst topped Walker Heffron and Rob Galloway, 8-3, at the top doubles position while Jacob Behal and Juan Sheppard downed Parks Thompson and David Sklar, 8-2.

Ben Horst’s 6-1, 6-2 win over Parks Schoen at No. 4 gave the Paladins a 2-0 lead in the match.  The Paladins pushed forward 3-0 when Sheppard pulled out a three-set win over Thompson at No. 6 singles, 6-4, 1-6, 6-3.

Haris Poric continued his strong play for the Terriers as the all-conference honoree rallied after dropping the first set to claim a 7-6, 6-3, 6-1 win over Browne at No. 2.   Jacob Behal sent Furman through to Sunday with a thrilling three-set victory.  After dropping the first set, 6-2, he rallied to take the claim the second set 6-1.  The third set went all the way to a tiebreaker where Behal held off David Sklar, 14-12, giving Furman the team win.

The Men’s Championships match is set for 2pm Sunday afternoon.