WINSTON SALEM, N.C. – Millen Hurrion won his match in the No. 2 flight, but the Gardner-Webb men's tennis team opened its 2019 campaign with a 6-1 loss at Wake Forest. The Demon Deacons enter the season ranked No. 1 in the country and are the defending NCAA champions.

"I'm proud of Millen for beating the 39^th-ranked player in the nation," said head coach Mike Griffith. "His hard work over the break paid off. We had chances in doubles, and we will learn from those moving forward."

In doubles play, Gardner-Webb fought hard, even after Wake Forest clinched the doubles point. Although the Demon Deacons would go on to win all three doubles matches, Stefano Puga and Breno Plentz forced a tiebreaker in the No. 2 position, but Wake Forest ultimately won, 7-6 (1).

In singles play, the Demon Deacons flexed their muscle, sweeping the first five matches.

Rrezart Cungu, the country's 80^th-ranked singles player, topped Johan Fors in straight sets at No. 4, and Wake Forest would clinch the match with a pair of two-set victories in the No. 5 and No. 3 positions.

In the No. 1 flight, Maximilian Scholl, who won a team-best 18 matches in 2018 for the Runnin' Bulldogs put up a valiant effort against the nation's top-ranked player, Petros Chrysochos. Scholl fell in straight sets, 6-2, 6-2 to open the season.

Hurrion, the reigning Big South Conference freshman of the year, began his sophomore season with a bang, earning Gardner-Webb's lone victory in the match.

The Weymouth, England native defeated a top-40 opponent, Melios Efstathiou, and need just two sets to do so. Hurrion won the first set, 6-4, before allowing the 39^th-ranked Efstathiou to win just two games in set two, as he cruised to a 6-2 win.

This is the lone contest against a Power-5 for the Runnin' Bulldogs this season.

With the win, Wake Forest improves to 2-0 overall. The Demon Deacons defeated the Wofford Terriers, 7-0, in its first match of a doubleheader today. Gardner-Webb drops to 0-1.

The Runnin' Bulldogs will be idle for the remainder of January and will hit the road for a pair of contests to begin February. Gardner-Webb will travel to Coastal Carolina on Friday, February 1 (2 p.m.) before playing at UNC Wilmington the following day, also at 2 p.m.