Men's Tennis Stuns Jacksonville to Win 4-3
March 20, 2007 | Men's Tennis
Boiling Springs, N.C. - Freshman Rafael Altmeyer entered the GWU men's tennis match with Jacksonville on Tuesday afternoon with two straight singles wins, but with neither one of them being as special as his third straight career victory which clinched a 4-3 victory for Gardner-Webb over Jacksonville.
The Bulldogs pounced on the Dolphins from the start, taking two out of the three doubles bouts and winning the doubles point for an early 1-0 lead. Freshman sensation Evgeny Slesarev and senior co-captain Gabe Veiga fought hard at the No. 1 doubles position, never giving up and ultimately defeating Francisco Riveroll and Ernesto Ramos of JU, 9-7. The 'Dogs duo of Grant Van Rensburg and Roberto Vasques sealed the point for GWU as they dropped Jacksonville's Marcos Oliverira and Vinicius Craveiro 8-6 at the No. 3 position.
In singles play, both Veiga and Van Rensburg were able to extend their winning streaks to eight matches in a row on Tuesday, although both battled all the way to the end to earn their victories. At the No. 4 spot, Veiga defeated Ramos of Jacksonville by taking the first set 6-4, but failed to finish at Ramos in the second set losing 3-6. However, Veiga bounced back to dominate the third set 6-0 and ultimately take the match. Van Rensburg was able to finish off his opponent, JU's Craveiro, in a second set tiebreaker 11-9 to win the match 6-0, 7-6 (11-9).
However, the star of the day was Altmeyer who scored his third straight win by battling back from a first set loss to defeat Marcos Oliveira of Jacksonville, 3-6, 7-5, 6-4.
Altmeyer's win gave the Bulldogs their 4-3 victory of the Dolphins and their third Atlantic Sun Conference win on the season and pushing them to 7-9 overall.
The Bulldogs will look to add to their three-match winnng streak in A-Sun play this Friday, March 23, as they play host to the Mercer Bears. The match is slated to begin at 1 p.m. at the Webb Tennis Complex on the campus of Gardner-Webb.
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Gardner-Webb 4, Jacksonville 3
Doubles
1. Slesarev/ Veiga (GWU) def. Riveroll/ Ramos (JU) - 9-7
2. Vaz/ Ballester (JU) def. Ellis/ Altmeyer (GWU) - 8-3
3. Vasques/ Van Rensburg (GWU) def. Oliveira/ Craveiro (JU) - 8-5
Singles
1. Jordi Ballester (JU) def. Evgeny Slesarev (GWU) - 6-2, 6-3
2. Francisco Riveroll (JU) def. Roberto Vasques (GWU) - 6-1, 6-2
3. Victor Vaz (JU) def. Kim Ellis (GWU) - 6-1, 3-6, 6-1
4. Gabe Veiga (GWU) def. Ernesto Ramos (JU) - 6-4, 3-6, 6-0
5. Grant Van Rensburg (GWU) def. Vinicius Craveiro (JU) - 6-0, 7-6 (11-9)
6. Rafael Altmeyer (GWU) def. Marcos Oliveira (JU) - 3-6, 7-5, 6-4
