BOILING SPRINGS, N.C. – Men's Tennis Swept Longwood on Tuesday Afternoon to cap off Senior Day. Gardner-Webb clinched a spot in the Big South Tournament with today's win and are currently in a three-way tie for first place at 3-1 within league play.
 
Head Coach Mike Griffith said, "Longwood was tough today, but we did what we needed to do and came away with another conference win."
 
The Runnin' Bulldogs extended their streak in winning doubles points to 11 and have clinched the point in all four conference matches. Within Big South play, Gardner-Webb is a perfect 8-0 in across all doubles matches. Eduardo Dias and Chrisjan Van Wyk won theirs in the topflight by a 6-2 score. Following this, Sebastian Harris and Cathal Butler got the point for the early lead on a 6-2 decision from the #3 court. The match from position #2 went unfinished with Longwood leading 5-2.
 
In singles, GWU won the first set in every match with Dias having a quick 6-0, 6-1 victory to give the 'Dogs a strong start from the #1 court. Harris had the next to finish from court #6 with him winning 6-2, 6-0. Kim Niethammer clinched his third match of the year, and first within conference play as he won 6-4, 6-1 from position #5. With these wins, Harris and Niethammer are each 4-0 in league play. Niethammer has now won his past 17 matches while Harris boosted his to seven consecutive.
 
The remaining three matches were much closer, but Gardner-Webb prevailed in each to complete the sweep. Victor Putter ended his seven-match skid winning 6-4, 6-4 from the #4 court. Alex Lepine needed a tiebreaker in the first set from #2 to win in straight sets and it finished with a 7-6 (4), 6-3 scoreline. The day ended with Numa Lemieux-Monette getting the win in his career debut on the #3 court 7-5, 4-6, 11-9.
 
Gardner-Webb finishes conference play on Thursday hosting UNC Asheville at 3:00 p.m. With a win, the Runnin' Bulldogs will clinch at least a share of the Big South Regular Season Championship, the team's first since the 2019 season.