Box Score (.pdf)
Boiling Springs, N.C. – The USC Upstate men's tennis team fell in its first road match of the season, 4-3, to the Gardner-Webb Runnin' Bulldogs on Tuesday afternoon in non-conference play from the GWU Tennis Courts.
USC Upstate falls to 1-3 on the season while Gardner-Webb improves to 2-4 overall.
The Spartans jumped out to an early 1-0 lead over the Runnin' Bulldogs after securing the doubles point with wins at No. 1 and No. 3. Fernando Bernardes and Ignacio Garrido got things started in their No. 1 doubles match by defeating Adam Schmidt and Millen Hurrion 6-2. Luka Eble and Felix Ewers won the point for USC Upstate in the No. 3 match with a 7-5 triumph over Stefano Puga and Paul Hogan.
The No. 2 doubles match with Ankush Arora and Francisco Neto went unfinished against Maximilian Scholl and Breno Plentz with the score tied 6-6.
Gardner-Webb won four singles matches to pick up the one-point victory. The Spartans captured singles matches at No. 2 and No. 6 with both coming in straight sets. Neto topped Hurrion 6-4, 6-1 in his No. 2 match while Bernardes won 7-6 (7-4), 6-1 at No. 6 against Ross Gilbert.
USC Upstate sent two singles matches into three sets with Arora at No. 3 and Garrido at No. 4. Arora would fall to Hogan 7-5, 4-6, 3-6 and Garrido 7-5, 5-7, 6-7 (2-7) against Schmidt.
COACH'S QUOTE
"It's always tougher to lose the close matches like this. We played a really solid doubles point and were able to get four first sets to start the singles, but to Gardner-Webb's credit they kept fighting us and were able to turn things around. Our guys are obviously disappointed but we were in a commanding position and we've just got to do a better job of closing out matches both individually and as a team. All-in-all this is good experience for us against a good team moving forward in our season." – Tim McLane, assistant coach
UP NEXT
The Spartans continue their road trip this weekend, Feb. 10-11, against Liberty and UNC Wilmington in Wilmington, N.C.
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