NCWC men drop tennis home opener to WSSU, 6-3

Rocky Mount, NC - The Bishop men's tennis squad dropped its 2007 home opener on Friday, falling to Winston Salem State University by a 6-3 score at the NCWC Tennis Complex.  WSSU took an early 2-1 lead in doubles action and went on to secure the victory with four wins in singles play.  Wesleyan is now 0-1 on the young season.

Bishop duo Daniel Pace and Drew McLachlan earned Wesleyan's lone doubles point with an 8-5 over WSSU's Phi Tran and Patrick Jenkins at the #3 seed. Bishops Zach Marks and Mike Harrison dropped a close 9-7 decision to Princeton Gilbery and Troy Moore at the top slot, while Matt Smith and Kyle McCandless fell 8-6 to Ryan Lindquist and Andrew Jones at the two seed.

It was Smith and McCandless, however, who earned points for Wesleyan at the #3 and #6 singles slots.  At the #3 seed, Smith breezed by Lindquist in straight sets (6-1, 6-2), while McCandless was a 7-4 winner in a third set tiebreak at #6. 

The Bishops, who were much closer to pulling off the victory than the 6-3 score may indicate, saw Marks and Harrison each fall in three sets at one and four seeds, respectively.

The Bishops will travel to Randolph-Macon on March 2nd for a 3:00 p.m. match-up with the Yellow Jackets.