Runnin' Bulldogs Comeback From 3-1 Deficit to Secure Road Win at Radford on Thursday

Thursday, March 23

Radford, VA

2:00 PM

Gardner-Webb University

Radford

Photo by: © Tim Cowie | GWUPhotos.com

Runnin' Bulldogs Comeback From 3-1 Deficit to Secure Road Win at Radford on Thursday

March 23, 2023 | Men's Tennis

Box Score

RADFORD, VA. – Gardner-Webb scored a decisive comeback victory over Radford on Thursday afternoon after a 4-3 win on the road. The win moves the Runnin' Bulldogs to 2-1 within conference play and 12-5 on the year.

The victory also marked Head Coach Mike Griffith's 150^th career win since GWU joined the Big South for the 2008-2009 season.

Following the win, Griffith said "To win on the road is so difficult and we did it today. I'm so proud of the guys for this."

The day started with GWU clinching the doubles point for the early lead. Sebastian Harris and Cathal Butler teamed for the 6-2 win on court #3 for their first Big South win as a pair this season. Eduardo Dias and Chrisjan Van Wyk clinched the point after a 6-4 win in the topflight for their 10^th in a row. Victor Putter and Numa Lemieux-Monette's match was called with them leading 5-4 on court #2.

The Highlanders immediately responded with straight set wins on courts #1, 2 and 3 to flip their deficit into a 3-1 lead and be a point away from getting the team win.

The Runnin' Bulldogs started to creep their way back into the match by winning the first sets from positions #5 and 6. Harris' was the next to conclude from flight #6 with him prevailing 6-1, 6-4. Kim Niethammer battled to a 7-6 (1), 6-3 match on court #5 to bring the overall score even at 3-3.

The overall win came down to the last contest of the day to conclude from court #4 with GWU's Lemieux-Monette competing in it. He dropped the first set in a tiebreaker, but responded in the next to sets 6-3, 7-5 to complete the comeback. In the second set, he trailed 3-0, winning the next six games to push it to the third set.

Gardner-Webb will be back in action on Sunday, March 26 as they host Davidson for a contest at 1:30 p.m. Saturday's league contest against Longwood was postponed earlier this evening due to rain in the forecast for the day.