LEXINGTON, Va. – The No. 23 and top-seeded Washington and Lee men's tennis team punched its ticket to the 2025 ODAC Tournament championship match with a 4-0 win against fourth-seeded Shenandoah on Saturday.
HOW IT HAPPENED:
The Generals (16-6) picked up wins at No. 1 and No. 2 doubles to take a 1-0 lead into singles. Senior
James Kurani and sophomore
Heys Parker got the Blue and White off to a good start with a 6-3 win at No. 2, before seniors
Evan Erb and
Will Kistler clinched the point with a 6-2 victory at No. 1. Sophomore
Sanjheev Rao and first-year
Ryan Good were playing at No. 3 and led by a 5-4 score.
Kurani went on to a straight-set win at No. 3 singles for a 2-0 W&L lead. He moved past Jovan Cirkovic, 6-4, 6-2. Kistler also won in two sets by a 6-3, 6-4 score at No. 2, before first-year
Sahil Arora battled back from down a set (6-3) to take the final two (6-2, 6-3) against Artem Barbaiev at No. 4 to finish the match.
Erb led by a set at No. 1 when the match was clinched, which took him battling back from 1-3 and 4-5 deficits for a 7-5 first-set win. He and Dominick Suwak were then tied, 4-4, in the second. With Saturday's semifinal being played in the Generals' indoor facility, Parker and Rao did get on court until near the match's completion. Parker was down one game in the first set, while Rao and Max Arkans had not yet completed a game.
UP NEXT:
The Generals will face-off against either sixth-seeded Randolph or second-seeded Averett in Sunday's conference championship match at 1:00 p.m.
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.
