BOILING SPRINGS, N.C. – Gardner-Webb clinched at least share of the Big South Regular Season Championship on Thursday afternoon as they defeated UNC Asheville in their home and conference finale. The final score for the decision was 4-3 with
Numa Lemieux-Monette clinching the team's win.
"I'm proud of our guys for the grind that they displayed today to get the win," said Head Coach
Mike Griffith. "Our attention now turns to UNC Wilmington and the Conference Tournament."
The regular season championship marks the second in program history with the first coming in the 2019 season. This year, the Runnin' Bulldogs finish at 4-1 in league play and await for the rest of the conference schedule to play out to find out their postseason future.
Doubles started with UNC Asheville getting the win on court #1 by a 6-2 decision, but the other pair of GWU teams getting the victories to give Gardner-Webb the doubles point.
Victor Putter and Lemeiux-Monette won 6-2 on court #2, then
Cathal Butler and
Sebastian Harris provided a 7-6 (4) decision to seal the opening point.
The visitors equalized the score with a straight set win from position #2, but
Kim Niethammer put Gardner-Webb back ahead. Niethammer moved up to court #4 today and pushed his win streak to 18 as he won 6-2, 6-3.
Eduardo Dias then put the 'Dogs a point away from the clinch as he won a grueling first set and bounced back to blank his opponent in the second. The final score was 7-6 (2), 6-0.
Lemieux-Monette fought back from falling down 4-5 to win the final three games of the second set and give GWU the win. The score for the match ended 6-4, 7-5 with him winning the final three points of double faults from the UNCA player.
UNCA went on to win the final two decisions of the day with #5 being decided in straight sets. Harris recovered from a first set loss to win the second 6-3 and push it into a third set tiebreaker. He dropped it 15-13 to end the singles matches for the day.
Gardner-Webb will conclude the regular season with a trip to UNC Wilmington on Thursday, February 13 at 2:00 p.m.
The Runnin' Bulldogs will then play in Charlotte on Friday, April 21 in the Big South Tournament Semifinals. The seedings for the event will be announced next week once the rest of the league schedule has been completed.
