Box Score
SPARTANBURG, S.C. – The Wofford men’s tennis match against the Furman Paladins ended in a heart-breaking loss, Tuesday afternoon at Reeves Tennis Center. The Terriers grabbed the early momentum after posting the doubles point and a singles win from Stuart Robertson, but Furman won four straight singles matches to secure a 4-3 win.
Coach Ray’s squad falls to 7-9 on the season, with a 3-3 standing in the Southern Conference. Furman breaks a four match losing skid with the victory and improves to 4-16 on the season, with a 2-3 Southern Conference record.
Wofford tallied doubles wins at No. 1 and 2 to earn the early doubles point. At court one, Stuart Robertson and Tinus Van Wyk grabbed their team-high seventh doubles win of the season against Furman’s Sawyer Duncan and Andrew Mellow. The Terrier duo held the lead throughout the entire match, winning 8-4.
Seniors Alan Donald and Paul Bartholomy faced Alex Christ and Joel Cook at No. 2. The two senior captains broke twice to go up 3-0 and held the lead for the remainder of the match, winning 8-6. Donald and Bartholomy have won their past two straight doubles matches and have a 4-2 record on the year.
Michael Schecter and Jack Seiffert battled back from a 1-4 deficit against Marco Aru and Andrei Chvetsov at No. 3, but were unable to knock the Furman pair off, losing in a tie-breaker, 8-7 (5).
With a 1-0 lead, Wofford’s Stuart Robertson won in straight sets at No. 3 to give the Terriers their second point. Robertson only gave up five total games, pushing past Furman’s Chvetsov, 6-2, 6-3.
Furman’s Alex Christ earned the Paladins’ first point on court four. Christ faced Wofford’s Alan Donald and won the final three games in the first set to win in a tie-breaker, 7-6 (5). Christ took the second set 1-6 to win the match.
Furman tied the match up 2-2, with a win at No. 1. Wofford’s Tinus Van Wyk lost to Duncan 6-1, 6-4.
Wofford’s Michael Schecter was next to finish against Furman’s Andrew Mellow. Schecter battled back after a 6-1 loss in the first set to take the second set to a tie-breaker. After being down 3-5 in the second set, Schecter broke at 4-5 and held at 5-5 to tie the match up. Both players split the next two games to push the match to a tie-breaker. Mellow won two points straight when the tie-breaker was tied at five to win 6-1, 7-6 (5). The victory gave Furman the go-ahead point, 3-2.
At court six, Paul Bartholomy split the first two sets against Furman’s Joel Cook at 3-6 and 7-5. Cook won the final two games when the third set was at 4-3 to finish with a 6-3, 5-7, 6-3 win. Cook’s victory sealed the fourth point and overall win for the Paladins.
Despite Furman having already secured the win, Wofford’s Drew Superstein fought on to win his match at No. 5. Superstein came back from a 6-4 loss in the first set to beat Furman’s Robbie Aru 6-3 in the second and third set. Superstein tallies eight singles wins on the season.
The Terriers will play their next math on April 9th against Elon. The Elon match will be the final away match of the season. Wofford will play their final three conference matches at home against Chattanooga, Samford and Appalachian State. The Elon match is scheduled to start at 1:00 p.m.
