GREENSBORO, N.C. – Senior Brendan Dempsey fought hard at No. 3 singles winning in three sets to clinch the match for the Gardner-Webb men's tennis team over Elon University, 4-3. The win this evening marked the first time in program history that the Runnin' Bulldogs defeated the Phoenix.
With Elon and Gardner-Webb tied at 3-3 and only No. 3 singles left to finish, Dempsey won the first set 6-4 over Elon's Jordan Kaufman, then dropped his next set 2-6 and in the third set Dempsey trailed 4-3 but overcame the defecit to win 6-4 in comeback fashion allowing GWU to walk away with the 4-3 victory.
Gardner-Webb trailed early in the match as they dropped the No. 1 and No. 2 doubles positions losing the doubles point and trailing 1-0 overall. GWU next dropped the No. 1 singles match with Nikita Zverkov losing to Stefan Fortmann 6-0, 6-0. GWU was now trailing 2-0 in the match.
The Runnin' Bulldogs would bounce back with a win from Benjamin Kaszas at No. 2 singles 6-2, 6-2 over Elon's Robert Lindgren to move the match to 2-1. Freshman Adam Schmidt playing No. 5 singles would drop his match 6-4, 6-2 against Josh Luck from Elon moving the overall match score to 3-1 in favor of Elon.
Gardner-Webb showcased resilience and determination the rest of the match winning all three of the remaining singles matches to take home the victory.
Senior Korhan Ates won his No. 4 singles match in straight sets winning two straight tie-breaks over Elon's Brian Kowalski in very narrow fashion 7-6(5), 7-6(6), while junior Jonathan Walker playing in only his second match of the year fought off Juan Madrid in calm fashion winning 6-4, 7-5, paving the way for Dempsey's clinch of the match and Gardner-Webb's 4-3 victory.
Head Coach Mike Griffith had this to say about tonight's performance against Elon, "This is a huge win for the program and more importantly for this team. It was an unbelievable effort by all of our guys tonight and I am very proud of them."
Gardner-Webb will return to action Thursday, March 5th at 2:30 p.m. as they play host to UNC Asheville. It will be the Runnin' Bulldogs first Big South Conference match of the year.
