AGATEGREENSBORO, N.C. – After a two-week hiatus that included the cancellation and rescheduling of three matches, the Elon University men's tennis team returned to action and dropped a 4-3 decision to Gardner-Webb today, March 1, at the Piedmont Tennis Center.
Elon built a 3-1 lead before Gardner-Webb finished off three straight singles victories to take the match. The Runnin' Bulldogs' Adam Schmidt won a 6-4, 7-5 decision against
Juan Madrid and Korhan Ates won two sets in tiebreakers against
Brian Kowalski to knot the match at 3.
That left the match to be decided on court No. 3, where
Jordan Kaufman battled the Gardner Webb's Brendan Dempsey. Kaufman responded to a first set loss by winning the second set, 6-2. The senior led, 4-3, in the third set but lost, 6-4, giving Gardner-Webb the win.
Stefan Fortmann and
Josh Luck added points for the Phoenix with singles victories. Fortmann swept the Runnin' Bulldogs' Nikita Zverkov and Luck handled Jonathan Walker, 6-3, 6-2.
The Phoenix won the doubles point with wins on court Nos. 1 and 2. Kaufman and
Chris Humphreys swept Gardner-Webb's Zverkov and Ernest Alberch, 6-0, and Elon's top duo of Fortmann and Kowalski won, 6-3. Madrid and
Robert Lindgren led 5-3 at No. 3 doubles but didn't finish.
The loss snaps a three-match winning streak for Elon and drops the team to 3-7 on the season. The Phoenix will play its first-ever Colonial Athletic Association match March 5, when the team hosts UNC-Wilmington at 2:15 p.m. Elon will then host North Carolina Central and Georgia Southern in a doubleheader March 7. All three matches will be played at the Jimmy Powell Tennis Center.
--ELON--
