Box Score CHARLOTTE, N.C. – For the second consecutive year the Gardner-Webb men's team will be playing for the Big South Conference Championship.

The No.1-seed Runnin' Bulldogs blanked No.4-seed Longwood 4-0 in the semi-finals of the Big South Tennis Tournament Saturday afternoon (4/20) at the Marion Diehl Tennis Center in Charlotte, N.C.

Gardner-Webb  (20-3) has now won a school-record 20 dual matches and is  seeking its first Big South Conference Tennis Championship in program history.

After starting out slowly, the Dawgs took a 1-0 lead in the match by rallying to secure the doubles point on courts two and three.

The Runnin' Bulldogs No.1 First Team All-Conference Doubles tandem of senior Eduardo Dias (Parana, Brazil) and senior Chrisjan Van Wyk (Pretoria, South Africa) opened the match with a 6-1 doubles loss to the Lancers topflight duo of Timeo Puech and Alejandro Hernandez.

At No.2 doubles, the Dawgs other First Team All-Conference Doubles pair of junior Numa Lemieux-Monette (Montral, Canada) and freshman Jurie Terblanche (Perth, Australia) prevailed 7-5 over Alejandro Uribe and Petar Belosevic, setting up the deciding match on court three.   

On Court No.3. the Dawgs duo of senior John Spring (Miramar Beach, Fla.) and junior Alex Lepine (Montreal, Canada) secured the doubles point for the top seed with a 6-4 win over Longwood's Luis Reis and Seva Rusin.

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

At No.1 singles, Dias started things rolling for the Dawgs as the Big South Men's Tennis Player of the Year defeated Hernandez (6-1, 6-1) to put Gardner-Webb up 2-0.  

Lemieux-Monette made it 3-0 on Court No.3 (6-1, 6-1) as he took care of Belosevic while junior Kim Niethammer (Harrenburg, Germany) clinched the match for the Runnin' Bulldogs, beating the Lancers Uribe (6-1, 6-0) at singles No.4. punching Gardner-Webb's second consecutive ticket into the conference finals.

"We knew the doubles point was going be tough to get," said Gardner-Webb head coach Mike Griffith. "Give Longwood credit for their preparation. We are back in the finals, but we are not satisfied with that."

The Runnin' Bulldogs will return to the courts to take on the winner of No.2 Asheville and No.3 Presbyterian on Sunday (4/21) at 12:00 p.m. in the Championship match.

The winner will receive the Big South's automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament. Gardner-Webb is seeking its first-ever Big South Conference title and NCAA Tournament berth.