Runnin' Bulldogs Win Third Straight with 6-1 Win at Longwood on Monday
April 01, 2014 | Men's Tennis
Farmville, Va. - Gardner-Webb's men's tennis team was able to win its second match in as many days and third in a row overall, evening its season record at 10-10 with a 6-1 win over Big South foe Longwood on Sunday at the Lancer Courts.
GWU (10-10, 2-3 Big South) knocked off Liberty, 5-2, a day earlier during its Virginia road trip in the homestretch of the League regular season.
Wins at all three doubles positions helped Gardner-Webb put Longwood (1-14, 0-6 Big South) in a hole early. Ernest Alberch and Nikita Zverkov defeated the Lancers' Daniel Elston/Edward Becker pairing, 8-2, and Benjamin Kaszás teamed with Pepe Batalla to score an 8-3 win at No. 2 doubles over Warren Bryan/James Fudge.
Brendan Dempsey and Johnathan Walker played at No. 3 doubles, scoring an 8-5 triumph over Longwood's Bharani Sankar/Justin Higgs pairing.
The momentum transitioned straight into singles play, where the Runnin' Bulldogs would take the matches at No.'s 2-6 singles in straight sets.
Elston outlasted Kaszáa (Budapest, Hungary) in the only three-setter on Monday, giving the Lancers a point with a 5-7, 6-3, 6-3 win.
At No. 2 singles, Zverkov (Moscow, Russia) defeated Becker by a 6-4, 6-3 margin. Alberch (Torello, Spain) improved to 5-0 in League singles matches win a 6-3, 6-1 win over Steed Johnson at the No. 3 singles spot.
Dempsey (Dublin, Ireland) also improved to 5-0 in Big South play with a win at No. 4 singles on Monday. A junior, Dempsey knocked off Warren Bryan 6-4, 6-2.
At No. 5 singles, Walker (Elkin, N.C.) won for the second time on the road trip, outlasting Higgs to win 6-3, 6-2. Batalla (Barcelona, Spain) won 6-4, 6-3 against Sankar at the No. 6 singles spot.
Gardner-Webb plays Winthrop at home on Friday, April 5 (2:00 p.m.).
