Runnin' Bulldogs Down Georgia Southern, 5-2, on the Road Thursday
March 14, 2014 | Men's Tennis
Runnin' Bulldogs Down Georgia Southern, 5-2, on the Road Thursday
Statesboro, Ga. - Gardner-Webb used doubles wins at the No. 1 and 2 positions as well as four singles wins, including three-set triumphs from sophomores Benjamin Kaszás and Jonathan Walker, to knock off Georgia Southern 5-2 at the Eagles' Wallis Tennis Center on Thursday.
GWU (6-9, 0-2 Big South) kick-started the match strong in doubles play, winning at the No. 1 and 2 doubles positions to take a 1-0 lead into singles play. At No. 1 doubles, Ernest Alberch and Nikita Zverkov outlasted the Eagles' Kyle Hoffman / Nico DeGroof pairing, 8-5, and Pepe Batalla teamed with Kaszás for an 8-5 win at the No. 2 spot against Oliver Webb / Christian Kerrigan.
Georgia Southern (3-10) picked up a win at the No. 3 doubles position from Marco Osorio / Albert Codina Sala.
The Runnin' Bulldogs' momentum carried straight into singles play. Batalla, a freshman from Barcelona, Spain, and Zverkov, a sophomore from Moscow, Russia, each won in 6-1, 6-4 decisions, prevailing at No. 6 and No. 2 singles, respectively.
With three singles wins, Gardner-Webb continued to fight for the match-clinching bid at the other four spots. Georgia Southern rallied, picking up tough singles wins at No. 3 (Sala) and No. 4 (Osorio), keeping the pressure on the visitors.
The matches at No.'s 1 and 5 singles went to three sets. After coming short in a tight first set against Webb, Kaszás (Budapest, Hungary) went to work, clinching the match for the Runnin' Bulldogs with a 5-6, 6-3, 6-1 win at the top of the lineup.
Walker (Elkin, N.C.), too, captured a resilient singles win Thursday, outlasting the Eagles' DeGroof 6-4, 4-6, 6-3 to round out the scoring.
The match marked the first for Gardner-Webb's men's tennis after a 12-day layoff. GWU turns around to face Savannah College of Art and Design (Savannah, Ga.) at 9:00 a.m. on Friday.
| Results: GWU 5, Georgia Southern 2 |
