Men's Tennis Results

Friday's Men's Tennis Results - Friday Quarterfinals

#1 ETSU 4, #8 The Citadel 0

The eighth-seeded Bulldogs (9-29) fell 4-0 to the top-seeded Buccaneers (16-5), who are aiming for their 10th consecutive Southern Conference Tournament crown.

ETSU claimed the doubles point by winning at No. 2 and No. 3 in the lineup. Sophomore Artemie Amari and freshman Matthew Henson were tied 3-3 at No. 1 with the 57th-ranked doubles duo in the nation when the point was clinched. In singles, the Buccaneers earned victories at No. 1, No. 2 and No. 4 to end the match.

The Citadel’s nine wins in 2016 mark the program’s highest single-season win total under Coach Kriese and the most wins in a season since 2008. Freshmen and sophomores combined to claim 65 of the Bulldogs’ 73 singles victories this season, resulting in 89 percent of the team’s individual wins being produced by underclassmen.

Amari earned the most wins among Bulldogs in singles and doubles, taking 15 wins in singles play and 14 total victories in doubles. Fellow sophomore Nicholas Bradley was next on the team with 12 singles victories. Freshmen Michael Anzalone and Henson each had 11 wins in singles competition this season, and classmate Roy Hobson earned 10 singles wins in 2016.

#5 Wofford 4, #4 Mercer 3

The Terriers (10-12, 3-4 SoCon) defeated the Bears (10-16, 4-3 SoCon) with wins in two of three doubles matches and three of six singles matches. With the match squared at 3-3, Thompson overcame Mercer’s Arnav Mohanty in a decisive third set, winning his match 7-5, 2-6, 7-6 (7-4) to advance Wofford to their second straight semifinal appearance.

Juniors Andrew Graham and Haris Poric started Wofford’s day with a 6-3 doubles win at the two position over Sam Philip and Arnav Mohanty. Mercer countered with a doubles win at the three spot, with Zacharie El Ayat and Fernando Guardia defeating Wofford junior Trevor Gotkowski and freshman Kyle Barr 6-4.

The senior duo of Thompson and David Sklar however clinched the doubles point for the Terriers, scoring a 6-4 victory over Arsav Mohanty and Ruben Vanoppen of Mercer.

In singles, Mercer took the first three singles points of the match. Sklar fell in straight sets to Nicholas Guillon 6-3, 6-2 at the three position.

Poric at the one spot battled Philip of Mercer to a third set before falling 6-1, 1-6, 6-4. Terrier sophomore Parks Schoen also took his opponent Arsav Mohanty to a third set at the five spot, winning the first but dropping the next two to lose 4-6, 6-3, 6-3.

Barr started the Terrier comeback with tightly-fought three-set victory over Mercer’s Anderson Scarpa at the four position. He won the first set 6-2, fell in the second 3-6, but rallied to take the third set 6-3 for his seventh singles victory this season.

Graham continued the momentum for Wofford, also taking his opponent Vanoppen at the six spot to a third set after falling in the first 4-6. Graham battled his way to a 7-6 second set victory before sweeping the third set 6-0 to tie the overall match at 3-3.

Graham’s win set up Thompson’s thriller at the two position. Thompson came out on top in a close 7-5 first set before falling 2-6 in the second. The duo battled back and forth to a 6-6 tie in the third set, forcing a tiebreaker. Thompson overcame Arnav Mohanty in that tiebreaker 7-4 to win the match for Wofford.

 

#2 Furman 4, #7 UNCG 2

CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. - UNCG Men’s Tennis suffered a 4-2 loss to the Furman Paladins in the Southern Conference Tennis Championships on Friday afternoon. Rain moved the match indoors to the Girls Prepatory School’s indoor courts.  The Spartans close the season with a 9-13 overall record.

The Spartans suffered a setback in the doubles portion of the competition, dropping two of three sets and did not earn the point.  Warren Bryan and Logan Walker fell 6-2 at No. 2, with William Albright and Ian Melnik dropping No. 3 6-0. 

UNCG earned two points in the singles portion of the event.  Gaston Murray earned the first UNCG point of the afternoon, easily taking No. 3, 6-2, 6-2. Connor Thompson earned a three-set victory at No. 1.  Thompson suffered a 6-4 loss before rallying back and taking the next two sets, 6-3, 6-2.

Daniel Mack narrowly dropped No. 2, 7-6, 7-5.  Albright fought in all three set, but came up just short, falling 7-5, 6-2, 7-6 at No. 4.  Bryan fell at No. 5 7-6, 1-6 as Furman earned the clinching point of the match. 

 

#3 Samford 4, #6 Chattanooga 1

CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. – The second-seeded Samford men’s tennis team earned a 4-1 win over seventh-seeded Chattanooga in the quarterfinals of the SoCon Tournament Friday morning at the Baylor School Indoor Courts.

The match was moved indoors due to heavy rain in the Chattanooga area.

With the win, Samford advances to the tournament semifinals, where the Bulldogs will take on Furman Saturday at 9 a.m. (CT). The Bulldogs have now won eight matches in a row, and they improve their season record to 13-4. Chattanooga ends its season with a mark of 7-15.

In Friday’s match, Chattanooga jumped out to an early lead, taking the doubles point, two matches to one. Samford’s lone doubles win came at No. 3, where Fares Kilani and Justin Ghavami defeated Michael Birnbaum and Nick Wingord, 6-3.

Despite the early setback, Samford came back to win the first four singles matches to secure the 4-1 win. The first singles match to finish was at the No. 2 court, where Trey Carter defeated Luke Saunders, 6-1, 6-2.

Samford took the lead for good when Ghavami defeated Wingord, 6-3, 6-4 at No. 3. Kilani then earned a 6-3, 7-5 win over Lucas Plesky at No. 1 singles to make the score 3-1. The match was clinched at the No. 4 position when Leonard Gerch defeated John Peacey, 6-3, 7-6 (7-4).