LEXINGTON, Va. – The No. 21 Washington and Lee men's tennis team picked up a pair of home victories on Wednesday afternoon, topping Centre, 6-1, and Ferrum, 7-0.
HOW IT HAPPENED – CENTRE (W, 6-1):
The Colonels (4-6) got their lone point of the match by way of doubles play, winning at No. 2 and No. 3 in the first two matches to finish. W&L (9-3) seniors
Evan Erb and
Will Kistler upended Ty Bush and Ben Rueff 7-6 (2) at No. 1 to avoid the doubles sweep.
W&L rebounded by winning all six singles matches, however, to run away with the win. First-year
Sahil Arora had the most comfortable win at No. 5, 6-0, 6-1, followed by sophomore
Sanjheev Rao, 6-1, 6-4, at No. 6. Each of the Nos. 1-4 singles matches had one set go to a tiebreak, but three finished in straight sets. Erb downed Rueff 7-6 (2) in a first-set tiebreak at No. 1 before shutting Rueff out in the second, while Kistler won 6-2, 7-6 (4) at No. 2.
Sophomore
Heys Parker claimed a first-set tiebreak over Dylan Dethridge by a score of 7-3, followed by a 6-2 win in the second set. Senior
James Kurani played 37 total games in a three-set marathon win over Isaac Flanery. Both players split 7-5 decisions in the first two sets, before Kurani edged Flanery, 7-6 (8), in a tiebreak.
HOW IT HAPPENED – FERRUM (W, 7-0):
The Generals (10-3, 6-0 ODAC) kicked off another match on the campus's lower courts against Ferrum, and got things going by dropping just four games total in doubles play. The doubles lineup consisted of senior
Eli Hirshberg and sophomore
Britton Buckingham at No. 1, junior
Jake Vo and first-year
Ryan Good at No. 2 and junior
Rider Yeaman and first-year
Carter Zavitz at No. 3.
Good (3) and Buckingham (4) both posted shutouts in singles play, while Yeaman dropped just one game in a win over Jairo Herbas at No. 5. Tripoom Jala took just one game in both sets in a loss against Vo at No. 2, and Hirshberg shut out Emilio Munguia in the second set after taking the first, 6-4. Rounding out the winners was Zavitz at No. 6, making his collegiate debut, with a 6-4, 6-2 win over Aukiem Mitchell.
UP NEXT:
The Generals will return to action this weekend at the Ohio Invite hosted by Case Western Reserve University. They will play the host and fifth-ranked Spartans on Saturday at 8:00 a.m., before facing off against No. 17 Kenyon at 12:00 p.m. the same day.
Nestled in the mountains of Virginia, Washington and Lee University is a proud member of NCAA Division III and the Old Dominion Athletic Conference. Founded in 1749, W&L is the ninth-oldest college in the United States and a top-ranked liberal arts university. With over 500 student-athletes in 24 varsity sports, the Generals have celebrated over 265 conference championships. Learn more about the Blue and White by visiting www.generalssports.com or on social media at @WLUGenerals.
