Bishop men win two, women drop two in tennis action

Winchester, VA - The Bishop men's tennis squad earned its first two wins of 2007 this past weekend, including an 8-1 win in Saturday's USA South opener at Shenandoah.  Wesleyan had previously beaten Randolph-Macon on Friday by a 6-3 score.  Senior two-seed Daniel Pace led the way with a 2-0 mark in both singles and doubles action.  NCWC did not fair as well on the women's side, however, falling to RMC and SU by 8-1 and 5-4 scores, respectively.

On Friday at Randolph-Macon, the Wesleyan men's squad jumped out to a 3-0 lead in doubles action en route to its first win of the season. 

NCWC's Zach Marks and Mike Harrison teamed up to down the Yellow Jackets' John Best and Chris Picarde, 8-4, at the top seed.  At #2 doubles, Matt Smith and Kyle McCandless were 9-8 winners over Sam Varner and Job Merkel after taking the tiebreaker, 7-3.  Finally, Pace and Drew McLachlan wrapped up the doubles sweep with an 8-5 win at the third slot, downing the RMC duo of Nate Miller and Ken Fetzer.

Pace, McCandless, and McLachlan earned the Bishop's final three points at #2, #5, and #6 singles for the 6-3 final. 

For the Bishop women, #1 seed Jenna Gollub earned Wesleyan's lone point with a win over RMC's Megan McKewn (6-3, 7-6 (7-1)).

Wesleyan tennis continued its weekend road trip on Saturday at Shenandoah.  The Bishop men again jumped out to an early lead with a doubles sweep and then breezed to the 8-1 win.  The Hornets managed just one point as Andy Torrealba downed Marks at #1 singles (6-1, 6-1).

NCWC's women then dropped a heartbreaking 5-4 match to the Hornets.  Gollub and Kayla Miller got the Bishops on the board with an 8-4 win at #1 doubles, and both went on to win at #1 and #2 singles, respectively. 

Junior Crystal Lashley earned Wesleyan's final point at #6 singles, defeating Shenandoah's Michelle Chandler (6-4, 6-2).

The Bishop men are now 2-1 overall, 1-0 in USA South action, while the women are 1-3 on the season and 0-2 in league play.

Both squads return to action on March 16th when they travel to Lynchburg College.  Match time is slated for 1:00 p.m.