MASON, OHIO – The Furman men's tennis team advanced to two finals this past weekend at the James O'Connell Memorial Tournament hosted by Northern Kentucky at the Lindner Family Tennis Center.
The Paladins were one of eight teams that competed in the three-day tournament along with Ball State, Dayton, IU Indy, Lipscomb, Northern Kentucky, Tennessee Tech, and Xavier.
Furman sent a total of nine players to the James O'Connell Memorial Tournament in
Walker Allen,
Nicolas Dispas,
Evan Duggal,
Landon Ecarma,
Sam Fancutt,
Alex Han,
Theophile Joly, Barnabas Sift, and
Nico Snyder.
The Paladins advanced to two finals featuring one each in the singles and doubles draws. Snyder made it to the finals in Flight A singles while the tandem of Ecarma and Duggal played in the final round of Flight B doubles.
Snyder, a sophomore from San Juan, Puerto Rico, won three times at Flight A singles starting in the first round with a 6-4, 6-3 triumph over Butler's Ronin Kasday and followed with a 6-4, 6-4 win against Jacks Lancaster of Ball State. Snyder moved on to the finals after topping IU Indy's Owen Nguyen in the semifinals, 6-3, 6-2. He fell in the finals to Nick Herdoiza of Xavier, 6-4, 6-2.
Ecarma, a freshman from Louisville, Ky., and Duggal, a sophomore from Lexington, Ky., compiled an additional three victories at Flight B doubles to play in the championship match. The duo began play defeating Jai Dutta and Cameron Kryscio of IU Indy, 6-1, and then captured a 6-3 victory versus Ball State's Nolan Hayward and Anthony Shalakov. In the semifinals, Ecarma and Duggal won 6-4 against the IU Indy team of Eli Mercer and Pumiphat Sukkho. The Furman duo fell in the finals to Nicholas Balthazor and Siddhartha Lama of Butler, 6-4.
In total, the Paladins registered 24 victories throughout the weekend including 16 in singles and eight in doubles.
Furman travels to Macon, Ga., this weekend, October 3-5, to compete in the Mercer Gridiron Classic from the John Drew Smith Tennis Center.
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