Men's Tennis: WVU Bags Key Road Win
March 08, 2003 08:48 PM | General
March 8, 2003
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| Markham |
COLLEGE PARK, Md. – Despite losing the doubles point, the West Virginia University men’s tennis team won four of six singles matches to defeat Maryland, 4-3 Saturday afternoon at the Tennis Center at College Park.
“Anytime you can beat an ACC school on the road is big,” said West Virginia coach Ed Dickson.
Eric Kochanski got things started with a 7-5, 7-6 victory over Maryland’s Chris Chiu at No. 1 singles. Tony Epkey followed with a victory over Troy Demers, 6-3, 6-3 and Ian Bliss defeated Pierre Rudder, 6-4, 6-3 at No. 3 singles.
“The big difference is we’re winning up top in our lineup,” said Dickson.
The match clincher came at No. 6 singles where freshman Kyle Markham defeated Rory Thies in three sets, 6-7, 6-1, 6-1. Kochanski and Chris Green managed to defeat Rudder and Greg Chambers, 8-1 at No. 3 doubles.
West Virginia played the match without No. 5 starter Julian Mesa, who was excused to attend some family matters. He will also not play Sunday’s match at Duquesne. West Virginia won its second straight match despite losing the doubles point. WVU failed to win the doubles point in a 4-3 win against Liberty at the Greenbrier on Wednesday.
The victory was the fourth straight for the streaking Mountaineers, now 5-5. In succession, West Virginia has won matches against Florida A&M, James Madison and Liberty heading into this afternoon’s contest.
“To show this much improvement at this time of the year is remarkable,” said Dickson. “We’re playing schools that are getting twice as much indoor time as we are. That says a lot for our guys.”
West Virginia returns to the court tomorrow to face Duquesne in a 12:30 p.m. match in Pittsburgh.
West Virginia 4, Maryland 3
Doubles
1. Chiu/Peters (UM) d. Epkey/Bliss (WV), 8-4
2. Demers/Reichsfeld (UM) d. Randall/Markham (WV), 9-8
3. Kochanski/Green (WV) d. Rudder/Chambers (UM), 8-1
Singles
1. Kochanski (WV) d. Chiu (UM), 7-5, 7-6
2. Epkey (WV) d. Demers (UM), 6-3, 6-3
3. Bliss (WV) d. Rudder (UM), 6-4, 6-3
4. Reischfeld (UM) d. Randall (WV), 7-5, 6-3
5. Peters (UM) d. Green (WV), 7-6, 6-3
6. Markham (WV) d. Theis (UM), 6-7, 6-1, 6-1
