FARMVILLE, Va. – Gardner-Webb's senior Jonathan Walker and sophomore Adam Schmidt came up with big wins in doubles and singles play to help the Runnin' Bulldogs defeat Longwood men's tennis, 5-2, Wednesday afternoon at Lancer Courts.
 
In doubles action, Schmidt and Walker teamed to claim a hard-earned point while Schmidt's victory in No. 5 singles clinched the match victory to give Gardner-Webb (8-9, 2-3 BSC) its second straight win and end Longwood's (6-10, 0-5 BSC) two-match win streak. After teaming with Walker for a hard-fought 7-6 win against Lancers Bharani Sankar and Rosen Ilchev at the No. 3, Schmidt was taken to three sets by Sankar before ultimately escaping with a 6-1, 3-6, 6-4 victory in singles.
 
"It is obviously disappointing to fall short at the end," said head coach Pierre Tafelski. "But the guys are getting stronger, more competitive and are proving that they can play at a high level."
 
Longwood showed it was ready to compete, as freshman standout Julian Farthing took the first singles finish of the day to pull the Lancers even with the Runnin' Bulldogs, 1-1. Farthing topped Yaroslav Prostakov with a convincing 6-0, 6-1 win at the No. 3, which pushed the freshmen's consecutive win streak to three matches.
 
A product of London, England, Farthing credits his current winning streak to the growth he feels with each successful match. After playing a majority of singles matches at the No. 4 spot to start the season, Farthing has since moved up to the No. 3 where he has won four of his five past contests.
 
"I've been feeling really good," said Farthing. "My confidence is a lot higher now than it was at the start of the semester. With every win, I'm gaining more confidence and that's helping me play better tennis."
 
Sophomore Alfonso Castellano, who normally plays at the No. 1, gave Longwood its second point of the day with his comeback win against Gardner-Webb's Nikita Zverkov at the No. 2. After dropping the first set 4-6, Castellano rallied with 6-4 and 6-2 wins in the next two sets to top Zverkov and claim his fourth straight singles win.
 
"I didn't really feel like I played good today, but in tennis you don't always have to play your best to win," said Castellano. "I kind of pulled through in the second set and in the third set I started to play and feel better. Once I started taking over the match, my opponent never really recovered."
 
Despite his struggles early on in the match, Castellano believes the support from the crowd in attendance gave him the edge to push through for the win, his first at the No. 2 this season.
 
"I loved it," said Castellano. "We always have pretty big support from this crowd. It's always great when they show up. It's nice to have them because when you get down, they help you believe in yourself and give you hope to win."
 
Although Longwood received these two wins from Castellano and Farthing, Gardner-Webb pulled away after starting off with an early 1-0 advantage before securing the match with its three singles victories.
 
"Doubles were key today," said Longwood head coach Pierre Tafelski. "We got very close to getting the doubles point, which is a good sign for us."
 
The Lancers put up a battle in doubles play, with all three matches being taken to the brink, before the Bulldogs escaped with the sweep. In addition to the doubles-point clinch, Gardner-Webb duo Yaroslav Prostakov and Paul Hogan earned a 7-5 win in No. 2 doubles against Longwood's Florian Uffer and Lachlan Manser.
 
Bulldogs Maximilian Scholl and Nikita Zverkov were pushed to the limit by Lancer sophomore-freshman combo of Castellano and Farthing before completing the doubles sweep with a 7-6 victory.
 
Longwood will continue Big South play with back-to-back road matches starting with a contest at Presbyterian on Friday at 2 p.m. Following Friday's match, the Lancers then have a match with UNC Asheville on Saturday, April 2, which is also set to begin at 2 p.m.
 
#GoWood
 
Match Results
 
Longwood 2, Gardner-Webb 5
 
Singles
1. SCHOLL, Maximilian (GWU) def. UFFER, Florian (LWU) 6-2, 6-4
2. CASTELLANO, Alfonso (LWU) def. ZVERKOV, Nikita (GWU) 4-6, 6-4, 6-2
3. FARTHING, Julian (LWU) def. PROSTAKOV, Yaroslav (GWU) 6-0, 6-1
4. KASZAS, Benjamin (GWU) def. ILCHEV, Rosen (LWU) 7-6, 6-3
5. SCHMIDT, Adam (GWU) def. SANKAR, Bharani (LWU) 6-1, 3-6, 6-4
6. WALKER, Jonathan (GWU) def. MANSER, Lachlan (LWU) 6-2, 6-1
 
Doubles
1. SCHOLL/ZVERKOV (GWU) def. CASTELLANO/FARTHING (LWU) 7-6
2. PROSTAKOV/HOGAN (GWU) def. UFFER/MANSER (LWU) 7-5
3. WALKER/SCHMIDT (GWU) def. SANKAR/ILCHEV (LWU) 7-6
 
#GoWood
 

Gardner-Webb 8-9, 2-3 BSC

Longwood 6-10, 0-5 BSC

Order of Finish

Doubles: 2,3,1

Singles: 3,1,4,5,6,2

T-3:55 A-105