LEXINGTON, Va. – The No. 36 Washington and Lee men's tennis team ran its record in ODAC play to 6-0 on the strength of a 6-1 win over Shenandoah on Wednesday.
HOW IT HAPPENED:
- The Hornets (6-4, 1-1 ODAC) won at No. 3 doubles, 6-2, to gain the early upper hand towards the doubles point, but junior Sanjheev Rao and first-year Justin Ilie evened the doubles score with a 6-4 win at No. 2 to leave it up to the No. 1 match.
- At the top spot, junior Heys Parker and first-year Henry Imorde went back and forth with Artem Babaiev and Neal Love. The Generals (7-9, 6-0 ODAC) rallied from down 3-4 to take a 5-4 lead, before the Hornets' duo bounced back in front 6-5. Parker and Imorde rallied once more to send the match to a tiebreak, where they secured the doubles point, 7-4.
- Shenandoah evened the team score at one point each when Dominick Suwak topped Parker at No. 1, 6-3, 6-1. Imorde (2) and first-year Pearce Lane (3) followed that up with straight-set wins, however, for a 3-1 W&L lead. Lane cruised 6-1, 6-1 while Imorde grinded out a 6-2, 7-6 (2) victory.
- Rao clinched the match for the Generals at No. 6 behind a convincing 6-1, 6-1 win over Max Arkans.
- Sophomore Sahil Arora claimed a 6-4, 6-1 win at No. 5, while Ilie capped off the 6-1 team win with a 7-6 (7), 1-6, 1-0 (7) win at No. 4.
INSIDE THE NUMBERS:
- Rao's win was his third straight, and he improved to 11-7 overall in singles play and 9-5 at No. 6. Arora got back to 0.500 on the season (9-9) with his win, while he now holds a 5-4 record at No. 5.
- The Generals improved to 27-9 in conference singles matches this season with their 5-1 output on Wednesday. They also remained hot at No. 5 and 6 with Arora's and Rao's wins, improving to 11-5 at both positions this season.
UP NEXT:
The Generals will next compete on Saturday with a 1:00 p.m. first serve at Hampden-Sydney in what will be their final road ODAC match of the regular season.
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.
