Ferrier's Win Gives the 'Dogs a 4-3 Win over Longwood
March 25, 2008 | Men's Tennis
The Gardner-Webb men's tennis team won their third straight
match on Friday afternoon, holding on at the end to defeat the
Longwood Lancers 4-3 in what was a very exciting match up.
The Bulldogs found themselves down early as the Lancers took an
early 1-0 lead as they swept all three doubles bouts.
Longwood would increase their lead to 2-0 as GWU sophomore Rafael
Altmayer fell at the No. 3 singles spot to David Cardoso in
straight sets 6-0, 6-2.
Yet fellow sophomore Evgeny Slesarev put the ‘Dogs on the
board with his victory at the No. 1 spot, downing Carlos Garcia of
LU in straight sets 6-3, 6-1.
The win at the one spot and Andrew Veeder's comeback in the second
set of his match seemed to pump the ‘Dogs up as they went on
to win the next two bouts to take a 3-2 lead.
Sophomore Grant Van Rensburg defeated Milo Barajas-Alexander 6-3,
6-3 at the No. 5 spot, while Carlos Quijano continued his winning
ways with a 6-3, 6-4 win over Billy Heird of LU at the No. 4
spot.
Yet the Lancers pounced back as they took the No. 2 spot to tie the
match at 3-3. Andrew Veeder was unable to add anything to his
second set comeback against LU's Brandon Lindsley and dropped the
third set 2-6.
With the scored tied, senior Taylor Ferrier battled Longwood's Mani
Barajas-Alexander, in what was arguably the most grueling match of
the day, to a third set tiebreaker. Ferrier dropped the first set
4-6, but pounded Alexander in the second for a 6-1 win.
The third set went all the way to 6-6 where Ferrier found himself
down 0-4 in the tiebreaker. Instead of folding to the pressure,
Ferrier rose to the occasion and won six straight points to take
the lead and eventually went on to win the tiebreaker 8-6.
The win gave the Bulldogs the match, which marks their 10th win
this season. The 10 wins match last year's record and it also gives
the Bulldogs their first winning record so far this season.
After the match Coach Griffith commented, "Even though we lost the
doubles point, the guys pulled through for a good win. I felt the
momentum really switched with Andrew's enthusiasm and Carlos' good
effort. The other guys saw them and seemed to feed off their
momentum. Longwood put up a good fight but in the end we were able
to come out on top. I am proud of our guys and am thoroughly
enjoying our teams never say die attitude."
The Gardner-Webb men's team will look to get back to even in the
conference this Thursday afternoon, March 27, when they will host
the Bisons of Lipscomb. The match is scheduled to start at 2:30
pm.
Gardner-Webb 4, Longwood 3
Singles
1. Evgeny Slesarev (GWU) def. Garcia (LU); 3-6, 1-6
2. Lindsley (LU) def. Veeder (GWU); 6-0, 4-6, 6-2
3. Cardoso (LU) def. Altmayer (GWU); 6-0, 6-2
4. Carlos Quijano (GWU) def. Heird (LU); 3-6, 4-6
5. Grant Van Rensburg (GWU) def. Milo Barajas-Alexander (LU); 3-6,
3-6
6. Ferrier (GWU) def. Mani Barajas-Alexander (LU); 6-4, 1-6, 6-7
[6]
Doubles
1. Cardoso/Heird (LU) def. Slesarev/Veeder (GWU); 8-6
2. Lindsley/Milo Barajas-Alexander (LU) def. Ryan Bernthal/Jamie
Lawlor (GWU); 8-6
3. Mani Barajas-Alexander (LU) def. Josh Ray/Van Rensburg (GWU);
8-6
