GREENSBORO, N.C.  The Methodist men's tennis team captured their third win on the season with a decisive 6-3 victory over Guilford College on Sunday, March 24. The Monarchs improve to 3-5.

"This is the first match that we have had a solid effort up and down the lineup," said coach Scott Handback. "Individually, we had a couple of players that were not 100% but overall it was our best team effort so far this season. It shows the potential that this team has."

"That was a very good Guilford team, who just played the number 19 team in the nation and were able to win a couple of flights against them. This meant that we had to play well today otherwise we would have not beaten them today."

JUST THE FACTS
Final score: Methodist def. Guilford, 6-3
Records: Methodist 3-5, Guilford 5-4
Location: McMichael Centennial Class Courts; Greensboro, North Carolina

HOW IT HAPPENED

• The Monarchs went up 2-1 after doubles play when Drew Guarnieri (Jr.) and Decklan Rayner (Fr.) won 8-6 at No. 3 doubles and the No. 1 duo of Matthew Hurley (So.) and Harry Crokam (Fr.) stormed back from a 7-4 deficit to win in a tiebreaker, 8-7 (7-4).
• In the first four singles out to play, Crokam finished first with a win in straight set fashion at No. 3 singles and Guarnieri, who was under the weather, fell in straight sets at No. 2 singles. In a tough rematch from last year, Hurley fell 6-3, 7-5 at No. 1 singles to set up a 3-3 overall match score going into the final flights.
• Needing two of the three remaining matches to win, Methodist swept all three as Rayner captured No. 4 singles., Wills Belser won in three sets at No. 5 singles and Christian Tihanovich won the deciding match 7-6 (7-4), 6-1 at No. 6 singles.

UP NEXT
The Monarchs will host Randolph College on Tuesday in a match that was originally scheduled for Wednesday, but moved up due to rain in the forecast.