West Point, N.Y. – With the score tied at 3-all, freshman
Walker Allen came from behind to record a 5-7, 6-2, 7-5 victory at flight five to lead the Furman men's tennis team to a 4-3 win over the Boston College Eagles in non-conference play at Army's Lichtenberg Tennis Center in West Point, N.Y.
Furman, which has won five of its last seven matches, improves to 5-4 overall with the victory. Boston College drops to 2-2 on the season. The meeting was the first all-time between the two teams.
The Eagles captured two out of the three doubles matches to claim the opening point.
Ben Cahill and
Emil Westling, playing at No. 2, got things started for the Paladins with their third victory of the season, 6-2, over Will Kasten and Anesh Jayasundera. Boston College followed with back-to-back wins at No. 1 and No. 3 to secure the point. In the No. 1 match, Juan Jose Bianchi and Jake Vassel topped
Thomas Kennedy and
Elijah Poritzky, 6-3. The No. 3 combination of Bennett Turner and Mai Gao clinched the point with their 6-4 win against
Cole Burnam and
Alex Han.
Furman answered in singles, winning four matches to complete the comeback and register the 4-3 triumph. The teams split the first four matches with the Paladins picking up wins from
Leonardo Dal Boni at No. 2 and Westling at No. 3. Following the Eagles' win at No. 1, Dal Boni followed with a 6-1, 7-5 win in straight sets over Vassell. Boston College responded with a victory at No. 6 before Westling collected a straight-set victory against Gao in the No. 3 match, 6-4, 6-4.
Trailing 3-2 in the later stages of the match, Furman's
John Rado won at No. 4 to set up the decisive flight five contest. Rado defeated Kasten at No. 4 in three sets, 3-6, 6-4, 7-6(6), before Allen recorded his first career match-clinching point following a three-set win versus Matt Campbell, 5-7, 6-2, 7-5.
Dal Boni and Westling both picked up their team-leading fifth singles wins of the season Sunday while the Paladins went 2-1 during this road swing after defeating Army on Saturday.
Furman returns to the Mickel Tennis Center next weekend to host Gardner-Webb (February 9) and Xavier (February 11). Fans can follow the action on www.furmanpaladins.com via live stats and live streaming. Updates will be posted on the Furman men's tennis Twitter page (@FurmanMTennis).
