Runnin' Bulldogs Score 4-3 Home Win over Appalachian State on Friday
March 22, 2014 | Men's Tennis
Boiling Springs, N.C. - Gardner-Webb opened the match strong by winning the opening doubles and got three singles wins to seal a 4-3 win against Appalachian State on Friday at the Webb Tennis Complex.
Sophomore Johnathan Walker clinched the match for the Runnin' Bulldogs with a 6-0, 4-6, 6-2 win at No. 6 singles. Friday marked the second time this season that Walker has provided the match-clinching point for GWU (8-10, 0-3 Big South).
The No. 3 doubles tandem of Brendan Dempsey and Tyler Macy got Gardner-Webb off to a good start, finishing off an 8-5 triumph over the Mountaineers' Luke/Kleynhaus pairing. After a tight 8-7 (6) match went Appalachian State's way at No. 2 doubles, Nikita Zverkov and Ernest Alberch came out on top against Casey/Hoang with an 8-5 triumph to clinch the doubles point for GWU.
Up 1-0, the Runnin' Bulldogs got the three singles wins it needed to defend its home court. In addition to Walker's resilient win at No. 6 singles, Gardner-Webb also got wins from Zverkov (Moscow, Russia) at No. 2 singles and Dempsey (Dublin, Ireland) at the No. 4 singles spot.
Zverkov continued his breakout sophomore campaign with a 6-3, 6-4 win over Hoang, giving GWU a crucial win at the No. 2 singles position.
Dempsey, a junior, outlasted Maddock in a tight three-setter, taking a 6-4, 2-6, 6-1 match at the No. 4 position.
With Friday's victory, the Runnin' Bulldogs have won five of their last seven matches heading into the home stretch.
GWU plays Coastal Carolina at home on Sunday, March 23 at 1:00 p.m. Sunday's match versus the Chanticleers starts a five-match stretch of Big South matches to close the Runnin' Bulldogs' 2014 regular season.
