Greenville, S.C. – East Tennessee State outlasted the Furman men's tennis team, 4-3, Monday in Southern Conference action from Mickel Tennis Center.
With the loss, Furman drops to 10-11 on the season and 3-2 in SoCon play. East Tennessee State, who entered the match first in the SoCon standings, improves to 9-9 overall and 6-0 in the conference.
The Buccaneers trailed 3-1 after the Paladins captured the doubles point and won two of the first three singles matches. Pedro Cressoni and Peter Kalocsai tied the match at 3-3 following their wins at No. 3 and No. 4. Cressoni, who played at No. 4, topped
John Rado, 6-4, 6-2, and Kalocsai defeated
Emil Westling in the No. 3 match, 6-3, 6-3. In the No. 1 contest, Dimitri Badra would hold off
Elijah Poritzky in three sets to clinch the match.
Furman took an early 1-0 lead after clinching the opening point with wins at No. 2 and No. 3 doubles. ETSU captured the No. 1 match before
Ben Cahill and
Emil Westling, playing at No. 2, registered their third straight win after a 7-5 triumph over Badra and Adam Nagoudi. The deciding match at No. 3 saw
Cole Burnam and
Alex Han top Cressoni and Alberto Garcia in a tiebreaker, 7-6(1), for their team leading ninth win of the year.
The Paladins extended their advantage to 3-1 with singles victories from Kennedy at No. 2 and
Walker Allen at No. 5. After East Tennessee State tied the match, Allen put Furman back in front with his straight-set victory over Garcia, 6-0, 6-3, and tied him with Westling for first on the team in wins. Kennedy extended the Paladins' lead in his No. 2 match, winning 6-4, 6-1 against Milledge Cossu.
Furman plays its final home match of the season Wednesday afternoon when it hosts Wofford at 3 p.m. for Senior Day. The Paladins will honor Cahill, Westling, and
Cole Rigsby prior to the match. Fans can follow the action on www.furmanpaladins.com via live stats. Updates will be posted on the Furman men's tennis Twitter page (@FurmanMTennis).
