LYNCHBURG, Va. – In a near replay of their last meeting, No. 9 seed Longwood men's tennis played No. 8 seed Radford to the final match of the day before the Highlanders escaped with another 4-3 win Wednesday to start the Big South Championships at Hershey-Esbenshade Tennis Courts.
 
With the match squared up in the final singles match, Longwood (7-15, 0-8 BSC) freshman Julian Farthing stood up to Radford (4-15, 1-7 BSC) junior Janken Thoen in the No. 3 flight by forcing a third set with a 7-5 second set win. Thoen, who usually fills the No. 1 spot for the Highlanders, withstood the freshman's fierce comeback with a 6-3 third set victory to clinch the match in the day's final set.
 
"The guys competed very hard in singles, but we ended up falling short at the end," said Longwood head coach Pierre Tafelski. "Julian showed great character to come back to within one set all, but their usual top guy played very well in the end. We lost a heartbreaking match and it is a difficult time for the guys to go through."
 
In addition to the comeback push on court No. 3, Longwood junior Florian Uffer made his own push following a first-set deficit to pick up the win at the No. 2 position. Uffer battled back to take the first set and control of the match before ultimately finishing off Radford's Samuel Taylor 7-6, 6-3 to even the match 2-2.
 
Big South second team All-Conference selection Alfonso Castellano earned the No. 1 singles point to extend the Lancers' lead after the first finish in singles action. Castellano topped Highlander freshman Alexandros Caldwell in straight sets 6-0, 6-3 while giving his squad a 2-0 lead.
 
Longwood earned the doubles-point win following the doubles bouts at the Nos. 1 and 2 flights to start the match. The Lancer sophomore-freshman duo of Castellano and Farthing secured the point with a 6-4 victory over Radford's Thoen and Caldwell in No. 1 doubles.
 
At the No. 2 doubles position, the Lancer pairing of Uffer and sophomore Lachlan Manser topped Highlanders Taylor and Nikhil Mannepalli to give the Lancers a head start to the doubles win. Uffer and Manser took a decisive 6-2 victory in the first finish of the afternoon.
 
In spite of holding an early lead with the doubles-point and first singles, Radford staged its own comeback to win three straight singles matches at the Nos. 4-6 slots spearheaded by Mannepalli's 6-2, 6-1 win over Longwood's Rosen Ilchev. In the No. 5 singles match, Michiel Meekers edged Bharani Sankar 6-3, 6-3 before Jose Moreno Manzano fought to give the Highlanders a 3-2 in No. 6 singles.
 
Manser put up a fight in his match against Manzano to overcome a deficit in the first set and take it to a tie breaker. Manzano was able to pull through in the end to take the set 7-6 and then going on to take the second set 6-1 for the point.
 
A product of London, England, Farthing suffered his first defeat in his last eight outings behind his previous seven-match win streak as Longwood's No. 3 player. He finishes his first-year campaign with 13 overall dual wins while winning eight of his last 10 matches for a 9-2 record at the No. 3 position.
 
Castellano ends his second season on a high note with a two-match win streak as the Lancer's top player. The Almeria, Spain native picks up his 11th victory in No. 1 singles to push his overall wins total to 12 for the spring season.
 
Also finishing with double-digit wins was Uffer with 11 overall singles victories during the dual season. A product of Savognin, Spain, Uffer's singles win vs. Radford concludes a breakout third-year campaign in which he tallied 10 wins playing as Longwood's primary No. 2 player.
 
Prior to Wednesday's start of the Big South Championships, the Lancers held a 4-1 record in matches that ended with a score of 4-3 on the season.
 
Although they came up just short of reaching the quarterfinals for the first time in program history, Tafelski gave his group of players credit for the fight not only shown during this match, but throughout the year as well when facing adversity.
 
"They improved all year, and showed that they can compete with anybody he said. "I am very proud of the guys for never giving up and always showing how much character and tenacity they have to win and battle. All credit goes to each of them for believing, working and competing as hard as they could."
 
#GoWood
 
Big South Championships
 
Match Results
No. 9 Longwood 3, No. 8 Radford 4
 
Singles
1. CASTELLANO, Alfonso (LWU) def. CALDWELL, Alexandros (RAD) 6-0, 6-3
2. UFFER, Florian (LWU) def. TAYLOR, Samuel (RAD) 7-6 (7-2), 6-3
3. THOEN, Janken (RAD) def. FARTHING, Julian (LWU) 6-3, 5-7, 6-3
4. MANNEPALLI, Nikhil (RAD) def. ILCHEV, Rosen (LWU) 6-2, 6-1
5. MEEKERS, Michiel (RAD) def. SANKAR, Bharani (LWU) 6-3, 6-3
6. MORENO MANZANO, Jose (RAD) def. MANSER, Lachlan (LWU) 7-6 (7-4), 6-1
 
Doubles
1. CASTELLANO/FARTHING (LWU) def. THOEN/CALDWELL (RAD) 6-4
2. UFFER/MANSER (LWU) def. MANNEPALLI/TAYLOR (RAD) 6-2
3. MORENO MANZANO/MEEKERS (RAD) def. ILCHEV/SANKAR (LWU) 6-4