Fayetteville, N.C. Playing their second match in two days, the Methodist men's & women's tennis teams defeated Guilford College at the Gene Clayton Tennis Center on Sunday to wrap up the spring 2026 opening weekend.
The men's team cruised to a 7-0 team victory as it captured all singles lines and the doubles point, despite a loss at No. 1 doubles by
Matthew Hurley (Sr., Australia) and
Decklan Rayner (Jr., Australia). Hurley got revenge for the doubles loss with a 3-0, retire victory over Andres Mercedes at No. 1 singles.
Harry Crokam (Jr., Australia),
Decklan Rayner (Jr., Australia),
Billy Johnson (Fr., England),
Cameron Roth (Sr., Winston-Salem, N.C.) and
Kaiden Harvey (Fr., Fayetteville, N.C.) each posted singles victories for Methodist.
After losing all three doubles matches, the women's team bounced back by capturing four of the six singles matches to edge the Quakers 4-3.
Emma Hulicki (Jr., Raleigh, N.C.) fell in straight sets at No. 1 singles while
Madelyn Parker (Jr., Erwin, N.C.) dropped the No. 6 singles match in a third-set tiebreaker. No. 3
Helen Hofmann (Fr., Germany) and No. 4
Shea Bieniek (Fr., Fayetteville, N.C.) each won in straight sets to tie the match at 2-2, with three matches still on court.
Katie Sechrist (Jr., Wilmington, N.C.) was the next to finish with a 6-2, 6-2 victory at No. 5 singles. Junior
Caitlin Tihanovich (Jr., Tampa, Fla.) lost the first set 1-6 at No. 2 singles, but prevailed in the last two sets 6-2, 6-2 to secure the 4-3 team win for the Monarchs.
The women's team has started the season 2-0 while the men's team sits at 1-1 after the opening weekend.
"This was a great way to start the season," said head men's coach
Scott Handback, who is also filling in for head women's coach
Alicia Barto during her leave this semester. "Both teams came to play opening weekend. It has been a while since we have competed (October), so it is good to get out and compete against someone else other than against ourselves. Obviously there is more work to be done, but I like where both teams are at this point in the season."
The Monarchs will leave on Wednesday, March 4 and head to the Mid-Atlantic area where they will play nine matches in seven days over Spring Break.
