LAGRANGE, Ga.  Methodist University's men's tennis team blanked Covenant College, 5-0, Friday morning in the opening match of the 2019 USA South Athletic Conference tournament, advancing into the semifinal round Saturday.

The tournament is part of the league's 2019 Spring Festival in LaGrange, Georgia, at which conference champions will be crowned in men's and women's tennis, men's and women's lacrosse, baseball, softball and men's golf.

THE ESSENTIALS
Event: 2019 USA South men's tennis tournament
Final score: Methodist def. Covenant, 5-0
Records: Methodist 13-11, Covenant 9-9
Location: LaGrange College Tennis Courts; LaGrange, Ga.

HOW IT HAPPENED

• Friday's match pitted the No. 2 East Division seeded Monarchs against the 3-seed from the West in Covenant.
• Methodist earned a sweep of the doubles matches to inch within a pair of singles matches victories from the match win.
• Trent Harner earned the penultimate point for the Monarchs, rolling through a 6-0, 6-0 win over Covenant's Paxton Haggerty at the No. 2 singles spot.
• The match-clinching point belonged to Coleman Baker at 3-singles, where he downed Ben Luke in straight sets, 6-0 and 6-3.
• The opportunity to clinch quickly during singles action was a result of that sweep in doubles play.
• Harner and Baker made quickest work of their Covenant opponents at 1-doubles, taking an 8-2 win over Haggerty and Trey Wood.
• The No. 3 tandem of Hayden Wilfong and Kaykahn Alikhani battled to an 8-5 win, leaving the 2-doubles duo of Wynn Johnson and Jacob Oehser on the courts and looking for the sweep.
• The Methodist pairing forged a 6-3 lead in the match, only to have Covenant's Chris Morton and Logan Hull hold serve then manage a service break to pull within a game.
• Johnson and Oehser answered with a break of their own, held serve, then ended the match with one more break.

NEXT UP

• Methodist's advancement into the semis brings a date with West No. 1 seed Piedmont College, Saturday at 10 a.m.
• The last time Methodist and Piedmont met on the courts was an 8-1 Monarch victory in the opening round of the 2017 USA South tournament.