WILMINGTON, N.C. – The Runnin' Bulldogs dropped their last match of the season 6-1 in the loss to UNC Asheville.
"Today was a good opportunity to prepare for conference tourney," said Head Coach
Mike Griffith. "Today was not the result we wanted, but we were able to see areas we need to straighten out before Friday."
The doubles matches were played until clinch. UNC Wilmington won the #1 court 6-1 over
Victor Putter and
Chrisjan Van Wyk. In the #3 position, UNCW defeated
Sebastian Harris and
John Spring 6-2 to clinch the doubles point. The #2 flight went unfinished, and the score stood at 4-2 with UNCW leading.
The Seahawks won five of the first sets in singles matches and won four of these in straight sets to clinch the overall victory.
Breno Plentz lost the #3 flight 1-6, 1-6, and
Connor Enslin fell at #5, 3-6, 3-6. UNC Wilmington clinched the match win when Davide Innocenti beat Van Wyk 6-3, 6-2. The Seahawks also won on the #4 court, 6-3, 6-2 over Harris.
Gardner-Webb clinched their lone point of the day as Putter came back from getting shut out in the first set, 0-6, in the topflight. The final score for the match was 0-6, 6-1, 6-4. The #6 singles position was the last to finish, and it ended with Leonard Sprovieri defeating Spring 4-6, 6-1, 10-8.
"Year in and year out, UNCW is one of the premier teams in the area, so it was good to see Victor and John have good days in their singles matches," said Griffith.
The Runnin' Bulldogs return to the courts on April 16 at 2:00 p.m. to compete in the 2021 Big South Conference Men's Tennis Championship in Charlotte, N.C. at Marion Diehl Park. Gardner-Webb opens the single-elimination tournament with a match against the #2 seed Radford Highlanders. The winner of this will face off with the victor of the other semifinal, #1 UNC Asheville and #4 Presbyterian on Saturday in the championship.
