MT. PLEASANT, S.C. - Appalachian State University men's tennis (9-6) edged College of Charleston (5-7) in a thrilling 4-3 win on Friday morning at Patriots Point.
Appalachian captured the doubles point while claiming the three singles matches it needed for back-to-back road wins.
With the Black and Gold trailing 3-2, it came down to
Scott Webster and
Alex Pavkovich to bring the Mountaineers back for the win.
Scott won his first set, 6-2 before Benedikt Henning forced a third set when he claimed the second stanza, 6-4. The senior for App regrouped and convincingly downed Henning, 6-1, for the win and tied up the match at 3-apiece. Scott improves to 10-3 on the year thanks to his sixth straight win, while the doubles and singles triumph puts him at 101-career victories at App.
The contest between the No. 4s decided the matchup between the Mountaineers and Cougars, where Pavkovich fought through after splitting the first two frames with Alec Angradi. After Angradi eeked out a tiebreaking 7-6 (7-4) set two win, Pavkovich earned the 6-3 third-frame triumph and the victory for the Apps.
It wasn't the first time Appalachian had to fight a deficit, as the hosts won the first two singles matches with
Campbell Stone and
Blake Carter falling both matches as the No. 5 and 6, respectively. After CofC took a 2-1 advantage,
Ben Webster stepped up for a 6-2, 6-3 win to tie up the match, 2-2.
Appalachian needed a big win in doubles play to start the contest with a 1-0 lead. Scott and
Milo Bargeron topped Ksawery Pocie/ F. Ramirez Lascurian in a 6-2 defeat before
Alex Brea and
Alexander Free fell to Angradi and Henning, 6-4. In what turned to be a stellar day for Pavkovich and Ben, the pairing registered a valiant victory over Youssef Dabbai and Juan Estevarena in a tight-knit 7-6 (7-2) affair.
The Mountaineers will look to continue the momentum and their 10th win of the season over The Citadel tomorrow at 2 p.m. in Sumter, S.C.
