Alberch Clinches at UNC Asheville, GWU Wins Fifth Straight
April 11, 2014 | Men's Tennis
Asheville, N.C. - Junior Ernest Alberch sealed the road win for the Runnin' Bulldogs with a win at No. 3 singles and Gardner-Webb fought to overcome a 1-0 deficit accrued in doubles play to escape UNC Asheville, 4-3, in Big South men's tennis action on Thursday.
The win marks the fifth consecutive for Gardner-Webb with just one match remaining in the regular season. Thursday's road win also clinches a winning season for the Runnin' Bulldogs.
Alberch (Torello, Spain) won in the last match to finish, outlasting Alex Croker 5-7, 7-6, 6-4 at the No. 3 singles spot to put the finishing touches on Gardner-Webb's comeback road win.
UNC Asheville (7-13, 1-6 Big South) won at the No. 2 and No. 3 doubles spots to take the lead heading into singles play. GWU (12-10, 4-3 Big South) won at No. 1 doubles behind stellar play from Alberch and Nikita Zverkov (Moscow, Russia).
Needing four singles wins to leave Asheville with a win, the Runnin' Bulldogs got just that thanks to its No. 2-5 players.
Sophomore Benjamin Kaszás (Budapest, Hungary) took the No. 2 singles match 6-1, 7-5 over the Bulldogs' Thomas Panoulas. Alberch clinched with a dramatic No. 3 singles win against Croker.
At No. 4 singles, junior Brendan Dempsey (Dublin, Ireland) earned a 6-3, 6-4 win over Asheville's Brett Landau.
Gardner-Webb's other singles win came at No. 5 spot, where sophomore Jonathan Walker (Elkin, N.C.) cruised to a 6-1, 6-3 triumph against John Schubel.
The Runnin' Bulldogs wrap up the 2014 regular season this Saturday as GWU hosts Coastal Carolina.
Singles
