NCWC men's tennis goes 2-1 in league play, women drop three

Greensboro, NC - Senior Mike Harrison and sophomore Matt Smith went 2-1 in both singles and doubles play this week, leading their Battling Bishop men's tennis team to two USA South victories. Wesleyan fell at Christopher Newport 9-0 on Friday, but the Bishops took 5-4 and 7-2 matches against Averett and Greensboro on Sunday, respectively. The women were not as fortunate, dropping all three contests on the road.

At CNU, both the men and women were swept as Antti Saari suffered his first singles loss of the season at the #1 seed. He turned things around on Sunday as he defeated highly-touted David Sutton of Greensboro in straights (6-3, 7-6). The talented freshman had previously sealed a victory over Averett's #1 in last Saturday's match that was suspended due to rain.

The match with the Cougars, however, was completed on Sunday. Smith and Harrison recorded NCWC's lone doubles point with an 8-2 win at #3, making Kalpesh Patel's singles win at the sixth seed the deciding factor in the 5-4 match.

Against Greensboro, Brandon Coleman and Dustin Hale each picked up their first singles wins of the week at the second and third seeds as the Bishops cruised to a 7-2 win.

On the women's side, Wesleyan put up a fight against Averett in a 6-3 defeat. Jaime Galasso and Ashley Ball teamed up for an 8-3 win at #1 doubles, while each earned straight set singles victories at #1 and #2. Greensboro then downed the Bishops in the week's final match by a 9-0 score.

Both the men and women return to action on Wednesday when the Bishops host USA South rival Methodist University. The match is slated to begin at 4:30 p.m.