FARMVILLE, Va. - Due to a pair of doubles and singles wins from sophomore Alfonso Castellano and freshman Julian Farthing, Longwood men's tennis topped West Virginia Wesleyan, 4-3, in its home opener Sunday afternoon at Lancer Courts.

After his late match heroics against CNU, Castellano once again clinched a match victory for Longwood (3-3, 0-1) to lead the team to its second consecutive victory. In No. 1 singles, Castellano topped WV Wesleyan's Nathan Sabate 7-6, 6-3 to earn his third consecutive match this spring at the No. 1 flight. A product of Almeria, Spain, Castellano also paired with freshman standout Julian Farthing to help the Lancers claim the hard-earned doubles point. The tandem of Castellano and Farthing defeated WV Wesleyan Sabate and Ferran Berga 9-7 in No. 1 doubles in the day's last doubles finish.

"The team is playing with more confidence and it shows," said Longwood head coach Pierre Tafelski. "The guys are getting off to strong starts to give us early leads. But we need to maintain the pressure all the way through. Even though we know there are some things to work on, I feel like we're heading in the right direction."

Upon helping the Lancers earn the doubles point, Longwood kicked off singles play with a near sweep in straight sets at the No. 4 flight. Farthing cruised to a 6-1, 6-1 victory over WV Wesleyan's Anthony Rames to give Longwood a 2-0 lead.

"Julian played another solid match that gave us the strength to gather those big two points that we needed," Tafelski said.

After falling behind, the Bobcats withstood the early pressure from Longwood by claiming back-to-back singles wins from Ramon Rodriguez and Pedro Nassar to cut the deficit to one. At the No. 3 spot, Rodriguez beat Longwood senior Bharani Sankar 6-3, 6-3, while Nassar battled to a 7-5, 6-2 victory over Lancer Lachlan Manser in No. 5 singles.

However, the WV Wesleyan comeback bid fell short after wins from Castellano and junior Florian Uffer, who put the Lancers in position to sweep after the second singles match. Uffer ended a two-match winless streak by topping WV Wesleyan's Jacobo Rendon 6-2, 6-3 at the No. 2 singles position to give the Lancers a 3-0 lead before Castellano's dagger ended the Bobcats chances of winning.

The Lancers also received a boost in doubles action with a win from the pairing of Sankar and Ilchev in the first doubles match of the afternoon. Sankar and Ilchev took down the Bobcat duo of Rendon and Stephens 8-4 playing at the No. 3.

Longwood will now take the next two days to prepare for its conference home opener against Liberty on Wednesday, March 2. The match is scheduled to start at 2 p.m.

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Match Results

Longwood 4, West Virginia Wesleyan 3

Singles
1. CASTELLANO, Alfonso (LWU) def. SABATE, Nathan (WVW) 7-6, 6-3
2. UFFER, Florian (LWU) def. RENDON, Jacobo (WVW) 6-2, 6-3
3. RODRIGUEZ, Ramon (WVW) def. SANKAR, Bharani (LWU) 6-3, 6-3
4. FARTHING, Julian (LWU) def. RAMES, Anthony (WVW) 6-1, 6-1
5. Pedro Nassar (WVW) def. MANSER, Lachlan (LWU) 7-5, 6-2
6. Tim Stephens (WVW) def. ILCHEV, Rosen (LWU) 6-2, 6-2

Doubles
1. CASTELLANO/FARTHING (LWU) def. SABATE/BERGA (WVW) 9-7
2. RODRIGUEZ/NASSAR (WVW) def. UFFER/MANSER (LWU) 8-5
3. SANKAR/ILCHEV (LWU) def. RENDON/STEPHENS (WVW) 8-4

Match Notes:
Longwood (3-3)
West Virginia Wesleyan (4-1)
Order of Finish: Doubles: 3,2,1 Singles: 4, 2, 3, 5, 1, 6