HILTON HEAD, S.C. - Webster University opened up play in the Spring TennisFest here Sunday evening by posting an impressive 9-0 men's tennis victory over Nazareth College at the Hilton Head Beach and Tennis Club.
With the win, Webster improved to 3-2 on the season, while Nazareth fell to 0-4 on the year.
The 9-0 win was the second shutout this season for the Gorloks as they posted a 6-0 win last Saturday at Kentucky Wesleyan College.
In Sunday's match, Webster opened by winning all three doubles matches and losing only 10 games in the process.
Junior
Riley Muren (O'Fallon, Ill./Illinois-Springfield) and sophomore
Austin Nation (Oklahoma City, Okla./Purcell) picked up an 8-1 win at No. 1 spot, while senior
Charlie McGhee (Waterloo, lll./Waterloo) and sophomore
Tom Shutzman (St. Louis,Mo./Parkway South) won 8-3 at the No. 2 spot.
The closest doubles match came at the No. 3 spot as freshmen
Tanner Haugen (Jefferson City, Mo./Jefferson City) and
Parker Schaefer (Barnhart, Mo./Windsor) battled back to post an 8-6 win over Kellen Boyles and Patrick Dowdle. In the match, Haugen and Schaefer trailed 5-2 and were down 6-5 when won the next three games to post the 8-6 victory.
Meanwhile, in singles action, Webster won all six matches, including two of them coming in a third-set tiebreaker and another match needing a tiebreaker to win the second set.
At the No. 1 and No. 6 singles spot, Muren and Haugen won by identical 6-2, 6-2 scores respectively, while Shutzman won at the No. 4 spot over William Britton, 6-3, 6-3.
Nation opened his match at the No. 2 spot against Tommy Daviau as he won the first set, 6-1 and then rallied from being down 6-5 in the second set to force a tiebreaker at 6-6 and would ultimately win the tiebreaker, 7-1 and the set, 7-6.
Perhaps the best two matches came at the No. 3 and No. 5 spots as Webster won in third set tiebreakers. At the No. 3 spot, McGhee lost the first set to Tyler Luong, 7-5 and then won the second set 7-5 after trailing 4-3 to force a tiebreaker. In the tiebreaker, the two players went back-and-forth as McGhee turned a 6-all tie into a 9-6 lead, before winning the tiebreaker, 10-7, while Andrade lost the opening set at the No. 5 spot, 6-4, before battling back to win the second set, 6-3 to force a tiebreaker. In the tiebreaker, Andrade trailed 6-4 and 10-9, before pulling out three of the next four points to post a 12-10 win in the tiebreaker and seal the win.
Webster will continue play in the Spring TennisFest on Monday, March 11 as they face Wisconsin Lutheran in a 12 p.m. ET match at Hilton Head Resort.
