GAFFNEY, S.C. (April 16, 2024) ---- The Gardner-Webb men's tennis team completed its regular-season competition in impressive fashion as the Runnin' Bulldogs blanked host Limestone, 4-0, at the Emmie Evans Rector Tennis Center Tuesday afternoon.

Gardner-Webb, which captured its first-ever outright Big South Conference regular-season championship this spring, has now won seven consecutive matches and heads into the Big South Conference Tennis Tournament this Saturday (4/20) with a 19-3 overall record.

In the double's competition, Gardner-Webb secured the doubles point as the Dawgs swept all three matches.

On court one, the 'Runnin' Bulldogs No.1 tandem on Tuesday of junior Numa Lemieux-Monette (Montral, Canada) and freshman Jurie Terblanche (Perth, Australia) won, 6-3, over Limestone's Andre Zamoranol and Andres Cortes.

At No.2 doubles, the Dawgs pairing of senior John Spring (Miramar Beach, Fla.) and junior Alex Lepine (Montreal, Canada) prevailed, 7-5, over Louca Bertonel and Rodolfo Villavicencio.

Gardner-Webb's No.3 doubles team of freshman Graham Bourne and redshirt freshman Johan Van Wijk (Somerset West, South Africa) completed the doubles sweep, 6-4, over the Saints Giovane Calou and Ramiro Rincon Hernandez to give the Dawgs the early, 1-0, lead.

In the singles competition, Gardner-Webb dominated as several matches came to an end officially unfinished and the Saints were never able to challenge the Runnin' Bulldogs for any late points.

Gardner-Webb secured the match victory No.19 with singles points on courts five, two and three.\

 On Court No.5, Johan Van Wijk took care of the Saints Cortes, 6-1, 6-3.

Lemieux-Monette defeated Villavicencio (6-4, 6-3) at No.2 singles,

On Court No.3, junior Kim Niethammer (Harrenburg, Germany) clinched the match for the Dawgs with a 6-3, 6-2 victory over Zamoranol.

"It was good to play a real match before the conference tournament," said Gardner-Webb head tennis coach Mike Griffith, whose team's last match was nine days ago against Jax State. "It seems like our last match was a long time ago. Matches are a way better indicator and helps with the focus and preparation way more than practice."  

Up Next — Gardner-Webb will be the No.1 seed in the Big South Conference Men's Tennis Tournament on Saturday (4/20) at the Marion Diehl Tennis Center in Charlotte, N.C.
The top-seeded Dawgs will take on No.4-seed Longwood at 9AM on Saturday morning.

The winner of Saturday's first match faces the winner of No.2-seed Asheville and No.3-seed Presbyterian for the Conference Championship on Sunday at 12pm.

The Big South's Tournament champion receives an automatic big to the NCAA Women's Tennis Championship.