HILTON HEAD, S.C. - Webster University Men's Tennis continued play here Wednesday in the Spring TennisFest as they posted an impressive 7-2 win over Thomas (ME) College at the Hilton Head Resort.
With the victory, Webster extends its win streak to fives straight matches and improves to 5-2 overall on the season and 3-0 on its Spring Break trip to Hilton Head, while Thomas, who was picked to win the North Atlantic Conference in the league's preseason poll, fell to 1-1 on the season.
"Overall, I thought it was a really good match for us today against a solid opponent," Webster head coach
Mike Siener said. "The guys really played well."
Wednesday's win marked the third straight time that Webster had won at least six matches, including posting a 9-0 win in its first spring break match against Nazareth this past Sunday.
The Gorloks opened Wednesday's action by taking two of the three doubles matches as they won at both the No. 2 and No. 3 spots, while its No. 1 team team of junior
Riley Muren (O'Fallon, Ill./Illinois-Springfield) and sophomore
Austin Nation (Oklahoma City, Okla./Purcell) fell 8-3 to Ryan Chasse and Kaleb Payson. Chasse and Payson are undefeated this season at No. 1 doubles.
At the No. 2 doubles spot, senior
Charlie McGhee (Waterloo, Ill./Waterloo) and sophomore
Tom Shutzman (St. Louis, Mo./Parkway South) earned an 8-2 win over Thomas' duo of Christo Naranja and Jared Waterhouse.
Freshman
Tanner Haugen (Jefferson City, Mo./Jefferson City) and junior
Nicolas Andrade (Quito, Ecuador/Francis Howell) won 8-2 over Thomas' No. 3 team John Farrington and Jose Alfonso.
Leading 2-1 after doubles, Webster would wrap up the win by posting wins at No. 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5 singles. Thomas lone singles win came at the No. 6 spot as Farrington defeated freshman
Parker Schaefer (Barnhart, Mo./Windsor) in straight sets, 6-4, 6-1.
"I thought our No. 2 and No. 3 doubles teams played well today," Siener added.
Perhaps the match of the day came at No. 1 singles as Muren needed a third set to collect a win over Chasse. Chasse opened the match by earning a 7-5 win in the first set, before Muren came back to win the second set, 6-2. In the third set, Muren would earn a 6-2 win.
"Riley's match at the No. 1 singles spot was tremendous," the Webster coach.
The other four singles matches that Webster won were rather convincing wins as Nation won 6-1, 6-1 at No. 2, McGhee won 6-1, 6-3 at No. 3. Shutzman collected a 6-1, 6-1 win at the No, 4 spot and Haugen won 6-1, 6-1 at No. 5.
Muren's win at No. 1 singles pushed his record to 5-2 in singles, while McGhee improved to 5-1 on the season in singles action.
Webster will conclude play in the Spring TennisFest on Thursday, March 14 with a 5 p.m. EDT match against Marietta College at the Chaplin Park Tennis Center in Hilton Head, S.C.