RADFORD, VA.- In the last regular season match of the 2015 year the Garnder-Webb men's tennis team used five singles wins to defeat Conference opponent Radford Univeristy, 5-2, in Big South action at the Radford University Tennis Complex in Radford, Va.

Gardner-Webb (9-12, 3-5 Big South) collected wins this afternoon at Nos. 2-6 in singles play to collect the victory over Radford (8-9, 3-3 Big South). Ernest Alberch started off the singles wins for GWU this morning at the No. 3 singles slot. The senior Alberch showed tenacity this afternoon playing with a nagging ankle injury, shaking that off to defeat Michael Meekers in straight sets 6-2, 6-2.

Fellow senior Korhan Ates continued his great run of play this afternoon at No. 4 singles defeating Jose Moreno Manzano 6-3, 6-2, while junior Benjamin Kaszas picked up a big confidence boost with a win over Nikhil Mannepalli 6-4, 6-4 at No. 2 singles.

Rounding out the singles wins for Gardner-Webb today were freshman Yaroslav Prostakov at No. 5 singles over Janken Thoen 6-4, 7-6(3), and senior Brendan Dempsey with the victory over Samuel Taylor at No. 6 singles in a match tiebreak 4-6, 6-4, 10-8.

The lone singles loss for GWU came at No. 1 as junior Nikita Zverkov fought hard but fell to Patrick O'Keefe 7-5, 6-4, in just Zverkov's second match at No. 1 singles this season.

In doubles play Gardner-Webb picked up a win at No. 1 as Alberch/Zverkov defeated O'Keefe/Manzano 8-7(9). At No. 2 Radford's Thoen/Taylor narrowly took the match over Kaszas/Prostakov 8-7(6), and the Highlanders also picked up the win 8-5 at No. 3 as Meekers/Mannepalli took down Hogan/Walker 8-5.

The Gardner-Webb men's tennis team will hope to build on the win today and use the next 10 days to prepare for the 2015 Big South Conference Tournament. The Conference Tournament will hosted by UNC Asheville in Ashville, N.C. and is set to begin with first round play Tuesday, April 18.