Box Score
AURORA, Ill. – For the second year in a row, the Edgewood College men's tennis team took on all-comers and one by one dispatched them all. The Eagles completed their second straight perfect circuit through the NACC with a 9-0 victory over Aurora University. With the win, the Eagles claim their second conference title since the program was restarted in 2010.
THE BASICS
Final Results: Edgewood College 9, Aurora University 0
Location: Aurora, Ill. (Vaughan Tennis Center)
Team Records: Edgewood College 13-10, 8-0 NACC. Aurora University 3-10, 3-5 NACC.
HOW IT HAPPENED
- As they have done often this year, the Eagles dominated doubles play to stake themselves to an early advantage. Austin Papenthien and Brian Davenport rolled over Jake Lipka and Robert Salerno 8-1 at No. 1 doubles.
- In singles play, five of the six matches were won in straight sets. Evan Stone had to go to a 10-point match tiebreaker against Lipka at No. 3 singles, but Stone prevailed 2-6, 6-0, 10-7 to preserve the shutout.
- Jamie Benavides shook off Aurora's Tom Asavarachan at No. 4 singles, escaping a first set tiebreaker before winning 7-6 (8-6), 6-2.
- Andrew Martinez won 6-2, 6-2 at No. 5 singles, while Alex Hadjiev blanked Michael Kitts 6-0, 6-0 at the No. 6 position.
BEYOND THE BOX SCORE
- The win clinched the Eagles 17th straight regular season NACC victory. In eight matches this season, the Eagles were 45-3 in singles play and 22-2 in doubles.
- Benavides, Davenport, Papenthien and Stone were all undefeated in NACC singles play, but only the pair of Martinez and Hadjiev were perfect in doubles.
- Davenport's two wins moved him past current assistant coach Mike Wanta into third place on the program's all-time wins list. Davenport has now won 81 career matches, 44 in singles and 37 in doubles.
UP NEXT
- Edgewood College will be the top seed for the NACC Tournament which takes place on Sunday, May8 at Nielsen Tennis Stadium in Madison. The Eagles will play either Wisconsin Lutheran (#4), Dominican (#5) or Aurora (#6) in a semifinal match at 11:00 a.m. The championship match follows at 2:00 p.m. with the winner receiving an automatic bid to the NCAA Division III Tournament.
