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Methodist University Athletics

The Official Athletics Site of The Methodist University monarchs Methodist University monarchs
MTNvPiedmont USAS Baker
5
Winner Methodist MU-M (14-11)
0
Piedmont College PCM (14-8)
Winner
Methodist MU-M
(14-11)
5
Final
0
Piedmont College PCM
(14-8)

Match Recap: Men's Tennis |

On to the Finals!

LAGRANGE, Ga.  Methodist registered a resounding 5-0 victory over Piedmont College Saturday morning to advance into the championship match Sunday of the 2019 USA South Athletic Conference men's tennis tournament.

Seeded second in the conference's East Division and 17th in the ITA Atlantic South Region, the Monarchs blanked the West's top seed Saturday without surrendering a match. The victory follows a 5-0 win Friday in a quarterfinal match against Covenant College.

Awaiting Methodist Sunday morning will be North Carolina Wesleyan College, the East's top seed and the No. 23 team in the country (ITA).

The men's tennis tournament is part of the league's 2019 Spring Sports Festival which will also crown conference champions in women's tennis, men's and women's lacrosse, baseball, softball and men's golf. The Festival is hosted by the city of LaGrange, Georgia, and by LaGrange College.

THE ESSENTIALS
Event: 2019 USA South Men's Tennis Tournament
Final score: Methodist def. Piedmont, 5-0
Records: Methodist 14-11, Piedmont 14-8
Location: McCluskey Tennis Center; LaGrange, Ga.

HOW IT HAPPENED
  • A sweep of the three doubles matches pushed all the momentum to Methodist's side of the net. But the big shift occurred with Trent Harner and Coleman Baker's tiebreak win at No. 1 doubles to complete the sweep.
  • Hayden Wilfong and Kayhahn Alikhani cruised to an 8-1 win at 3-doubles for the initial point of the day, and seniors Wynn Johnson and Jacob Oehser added the second point with their 8-2 triumph at No. 2.
  • Those results left both teams lining the adjacent court on which the No. 1 Methodist duo was battling Piedmont's Kanler Cumbass and Jarrett Gray.
  • Tied at 7-7 the match extended into a tiebreak, first to seven, win by two, set. Harner and Coleman broke in front with consecutive points to open the tiebreaker, then moved out to a 5-2 advantage over the Piedmont duo.
  • Cumbass and Gray battled back to tie the tiebreak at 6-6 before Harner and Coleman would finish out the set with its final two points, allowing Methodist to head into singles play needing only two points for the match victory.
  • Harner at 2-singles, Baker at No.3, Hayden Wilfong at 4, Oehser at No. 5 ad Henry Murray at 6 each rolled to opening set victories, making it a race to see who could post second-set wins to close the match.
  • Oehser, who had won his opening set 6-0, replicated that score to notch the fourth Methodist point, pushing even more the speed at which his teammates were racing to finish off their own second sets in hopes of providing the match point.
  • It was Harner at No. 2 who won the race, posting a 6-0 second set win to complete his straight-set victory (3 and 0), and send the Monarchs into the tournament's championship match.

UP NEXT
  • Methodist and N.C. Wesleyan met twice during the regular season, with the Battling Bishops winning the first of those by a 9-0 count, but seeing that margin trimmed to five in a 7-2 win over host Methodist late in the season.
  • N.C. Wesleyan, like had Piedmont, earned a quarterfinal bye in the bracket, then reached the championship match with a 5-0 win over No. 3 East seed Averett University at another site Saturday morning.
    
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