Men's Tennis Plays Strong at Weather Plagued 2014 Wake Forest Fall Invite
October 12, 2014 | Men's Tennis
WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. – The Gardner-Webb men's tennis team showed strong play at this weekend's 2014 Wake Forest Fall Invite held in Winston-Salem, N.C. from October 10-12th.
Overcast skies and on and off again rain overshadowed this weekend's Invite allowing the Runnin' Bulldogs to only compete in doubles play on the final day of play on Sunday.
This weekend's Invite played host to a wealth of college tennis talent with schools such as the University of Louisville, University of Tennessee, Navy, Duke University, Rice, Elon, Liberty University and others who joined Gardner-Webb along with the host school Wake Forest University participating in the individual open draw tournament.
Junior Jonathan Walker played very well at this weekend's Invite finishing with a 2-1 record in the D1 Singles bracket over the three-day event. Walker opened the Invite with a Friday afternoon win over Liberty University's David Bush winning in straight sets (6-0, 7-6(2). On Saturday Walker continued his winning ways defeating Warren Bryan of UNC Greensboro (2-6, 6-4, 6-4) before falling just short in the D1 Singles Semi-Finals match to Marius Dragoi from South Carolina State University (3-6, 4-6).
Freshman Adam Schmidt and Yaroslav Prostakov continued to play very in their first fall seasons of college tennis this weekend. Schmidt and Prostakov both matched their older counterpart Walker's record of 2-1 on the weekend.
Prostakov playing in the B2 Singles position faced stiff opposition in his three matches opening up by defeating Maik Ulrich of the University of North Carolina (7-5, 6-4). Prostakov then fell to Jeff Brown from the University of Louisville (2-6, 6-2, 0-6), but rebounded to play a very strong three set match and earn the win over Andrew Dromsky from the University of Tennessee (2-6, 6-2, 6-4).
Schmidt on the other hand took an early loss to Dan Sablik of Elon (3-6, 2-6), but used the tough loss to propel him to win his next two matches in the consolation side of the D2 Singles bracket defeating Javier Wasse from Radford University (6-4, 6-2) and Andrew Gores from the University of North Carolina (6-3, 6-1).
Junior Benjamin Kaszas and senior Brendan Dempsey also collected singles match wins at the Invite this weekend competing in the A1 and C2 Singles brackets respectively. Kaszas defeated Rodney Corey of South Carolina State University (6-7(4), 6-4, 7-5) while Dempsey beat Elon's Juan Madrid (6-2, 6-1).
Both Dempsey and Kaszas also formed the doubles team that combined for all of the Runnin' Bulldogs wins on the weekend in the C2 Doubles Bracket. The two defeated the Georgia State team of Bishop/Handa (8-5) before losing to the Elon team of Sablik/Gleason (4-8), but the two bounced back to play a confident and gritty match winning the third-place finish in the C2 Doubles bracket defeating Liberty's Bush/Castano (8-5).
The Gardner-Webb men's tennis team will return to the court next this coming week when they will participate in the ITA Regional Fall Tournament held in Cary, N.C. October 16th through the 19th.
RESULTS:
A1 Singles
Benjamin Kaszas (Gardner-Webb) def. Rodney Corey (South Carolina State University) – 6-7(4), 6-4, 7-5
Christian Seraphin (Wake Forest University) def. Benjamin Kaszas (Gardner-Webb) – 6-2, 6-2
B2 Singles
Yaroslav Prostakov (Gardner-Webb) def. Maik Ulrich (University of North Carolina) – 7-5, 6-4
Jeff Brown (University of Louisville) def. Yaroslav Prostakov (Gardner-Webb) – 6-2, 2-6, 6-0
Yaroslav Prostakov (Gardner-Webb) def. Andrew Dromsky (University of Tennessee) 4-6, 6-4, 7-6(3)
C2 Singles
Brendan Dempsey (Gardner-Webb) def. Juan Madrid (Elon) – 6-2, 6-1
Dillon Segur (Liberty University) def. Brendan Dempsey (Gardner-Webb) – 6-3, 6-4
Blake Daniel (Navy) def. Brendan Dempsey (Gardner-Webb) – 2-6, 6-2, 6-4
D1 Singles
Jonathan Walker (Gardner-Webb) def. David Bush (Liberty University) – 6-0, 7-6(2)
Jonathan Walker (Gardner-Webb) def. Warren Bryan (UNC Greensboro) – 2-6, 6-4, 6-4
Marius Dragoi (South Carolina State University) def. Jonathan Walker (Gardner-Webb) – 6-3, 6-4
D2 Singles
Dan Sablik (Elon) def. Adam Schmidt (Gardner-Webb) 6-3, 6-2
Adam Schmidt (Gardner-Webb) def. Javier Wasse (Radford) – 6-4, 6-2Adam Schmidt (Gardner-Webb) def. Andrew Gores (University of North Carolina) – 6-3, 6-1
A3 Doubles
DePaolo/Ulrich (University of North Carolina) def. Prostakov/Schmidt (Gardner-Webb) – 8-4
Carey/Figura (South Carolina State University) def. Prostakov/Schmidt (Gardner-Webb) – 8-7(5)
C2 Doubles
Dempsey/Kaszas (Gardner-Webb) def. Bishop/Handa (Georgia State) – 8-5
Sablik/Gleason (Elon) def. Dempsey/Kaszas (Gardner-Webb) – 8-4
Dempsey/Kaszas (Gardner-Webb) def. Bush/Castano (Liberty University) – 8-5
