Box Score
SPARTANBURG, S.C. – The Wofford men’s tennis team played their next to last match of the 2011 season against the Samford Bulldogs Friday afternoon in Reeves Tennis Center. The match featured a showdown in the final two singles matches to see who would take home the win and Samford edged out Wofford to tally a 4-3 final. The Terriers grabbed the doubles point and two singles wins to account for their three points.
The match could have potentially put the Terriers ahead of the Bulldogs in the Southern Conference standings, as Samford currently sits one spot ahead of Wofford in sixth place. The win now puts Samford tied for fifth with Furman. Wofford still has a sixth place standing in the Southern Conference with a 4-5 SoCon record and an overall 8-11 record. Samford improves to 15-6 with the win and moves up to 5-4 in the SoCon.
The Terriers grabbed the early doubles point with two wins at the No. 1 and 2 slots. Stuart Robertson and Tinus van Wyk were off the courts first after defeating Samford’s Carl Abalos and Oliver Reynolds at No. 1. The Terrier duo came back after being down 4-5 to win three straight and then put it away at an 8-6 finish. Senior pair, Alan Donald and Paul Bartholomy, secured the doubles point with a strong 8-4 win over Samford’s Zac Dunkle and Alexander Sajonz. Donald and Bartholomy tally a 5-2 doubles record in the conference play with the victory.
With a 0-1 lead, Samford tied up the match after winning the No. 3 singles match. Robertson dropped his match against Abalos, 6-3, 6-3 to draw the match even. Samford seized the lead after winning the match on court 5 as well. Wofford’s Drew Superstein fell to Samford’s Fernando Costa, 6-3, 6-2.
Wofford stole back the momentum with the next two singles matches, winning the top two spots to push the Terriers to a 3-2 lead. Michael Shecter easily pushed passed Zac Dunkle in straight sets, 6-4, 6-3 and Tinus van Wyk won in a spectacular three set finish at the No. 1 slot. Van Wyk lost the first set 6-2, but never looked back in the second and third set, winning 6-4 in each to give the Terriers their third point.
Wofford had a chance to seal the match in the last two singles matches, but Samford scrambled to finish big and grab the win. Bartholomy lost his match at the No. 6 position to Sajonz, 7-5, 6-2 to draw the match even at 3-3.
Donald was last off the courts after a grueling three set finish at No. 4. Donald had the match secure in the first set, winning in a tie-breaker 7-6 (5) and was in position to put away the second set for the win. Samford’s Oliver Reynolds came back from 5-3 in the second set to win the set 7-5 and rode the momentum to win the final set 6-3, giving the Bulldogs the win.
The men’s tennis team will be playing in their final match tomorrow, April 16. The match will feature Senior Day, where the three graduating seniors, Alan Donald, Paul Bartholomy and Michael Schecter will be honored for their time with the men’s program. The match is against Appalachian State at Reeves Tennis Center and is now scheduled to start at 1:30 p.m. due to rain predictions. The match was originally set for 12:00 p.m.
