FARMVILLE, Va. – Only six days removed from a season-opening 7-2 win over nationally ranked Division III powerhouse Mary Washington, the Longwood men's tennis team continued its win streak Friday with a 7-0 sweep of Chowan at Rose Family Tennis Courts.
Propelled by a perfect singles slate in which they won every set, the Lancers (2-0) remained unbeaten this spring under second-year head coach and Longwood director of tennis
Jhonnatan Medina Alvarez with a one-sided win over the Conference Carolinas' No. 4 team in the preseason poll.
"It was a great outcome today," said senior
Julian Farthing, who improved to 7-1 on the year and 2-0 this fall with a 6-2, 6-4 win at No. 2 singles.
"These first two matches have been building blocks for what's to come, especially for our conference matches. We are definitely using these early matches to do things that we normally don't do in practice so we can learn what to do in the future. That way when it comes time to perform, we can really make strides and hit our peak. We have a lot of potential, and we are really excited about this season leading up."
The No. 2 doubles pairing of freshman Marc Casanova and junior
Amadeo Blasco jumpstarted Friday's victory, clinching the doubles point and a 1-0 lead with a 6-4 win that overcame the Lancers' loss at No. 1 doubles and preserved the team's first sweep of the spring.
Longwood used that doubles win and a default at No. 3 to clinch the doubles point for the second straight match, delivering on Medina Alvarez' preseason emphasis on improved doubles play.
Longwood carried that momentum into singles play, staking a 2-0 lead following a default at No. 6 and following with a one-sided 6-1, 6-0 victory by sophomore
Raisei Sakai against Rafael D'Atri at the No.5 spot.
Following Sakai was sophomore
Guilherme Sergio, who improved to 2-0 with a 6-1, 6-2 win over Adi Kaliakperov at No. 3, and Blasco, who continued his climb up Longwood's all-time wins leaderboard with a 6-3, 6-2 win over Mariano Yeh that was the 58th of his career. That victory also improved Blasco's career winning percentage to .795 (58-15), which currently ranks at the highest on Longwood's career singles win percentage chart.
Farthing matched his top-tier counterpart shortly after with his singles win, picking up his 66th career victory to inch closer to Longwood's all-time wins record. He now sits just 22 win shy of
Nobu Tanaka's all-time record of 88 career singles wins.
Rounding out the singles win sweep was Cagigas, who picked up a 6-3, 6-3 win over Louis Proulx at No. 4.
"The main goal we always set is for everyone to perform at a consistently high level," Farthing said. "As a team, we are following our coach's mentality that we are a physical team and we are always going to put our best foot forward and be the better physically fit team."
On the road for their next four matches, the Lancers will head to Washington, D.C., to take on George Washington Sunday, Feb. 10, at 2 p.m.
Longwood 7, Chowan University 0
Feb. 8, 2019
Murfreesboro, N.C. (Rose Family Tennis Courts)
Singles
1. BLASCO, Amadeo (LWU) def. YEH, Mariano (CU) 6-3, 6-2
2. FARTHING, Julian (LWU) def. EDMOND, Aynedjian (CU) 6-2, 6-4
3. SERGIO, Guilherme (LWU) def. KALIAKPEROV, Adi (CU) 6-1, 6-2
4. CAGIGAS, Guillermo (LWU) def. PROULX, Louis (CU) 6-3, 6-3
5. SAKAI, Raisei (LWU) def. D'ATRI, Rafael (CU) 6-1, 6-0
6. NAYDENOV, Rosen (LWU) def. No player (CU), by default
Doubles
1. YEH, Mariano/EDMOND, Aynedjian (CU) def. SERGIO, Guilherme/CAGIGAS, Guillermo (LWU) 7-5
2. CASASNOVAS, Marc/BLASCO, Amadeo (LWU) def. KALIAKPEROV, Adi/PROULX, Louis (CU) 6-4
3. SAKAI, Raisei/FARTHING, Julian (LWU) def. No player/No player (CU), by default
Match Notes
Longwood 3-0
Chowan University 0-1
Order of finish: Doubles (13,2); Singles (6,5,3,1,2,4)
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