BOONE, N.C. - Appalachian State University men's tennis (5-14, 1-2 SBC) stunned Louisiana (19-7, 1-2 SBC) with a thrilling 4-3 win on Friday afternoon at Boone Courts.
Appalachian earns its first Sun Belt win of the season and the first home victory under head coach
Craig Schwartz. The Mountaineers snapped a five-match skid in the process and captures a second straight 4-3 win over the Ragin' Cajuns.
Trailing 3-2 to the visitors, the Black and Gold won the final two contests to seal their biggest win of the season.
Zion Heaven rallied back from a first-set loss to upend Arthur Libaud in three frames. The freshman came away with the final two sets in 6-4 fashion to tie up the contest and snap Libaud's four-match win streak.
The deciding match came down to
Campbell Stone and Pierce Gilheany on Court No. 6, where Stone won the first match, 6-4. In the second set, the senior stepped up for a tiebreaking 7-6 (7-5) triumph, scoring the last two points to clinch the win and his teammates stormed the court to celebrate.
"It's great to win our first Sun Belt game," head coach
Craig Schwartz said following the win. "It's been a tough stretch so far for us, but the guys keep working in practice and battling. The win is about the team and we're very excited to get this one."
Louisiana went up 2-1 in singles after claiming wins on Courts 5 and 2. Tying up the match was
Ben Webster, who earned his first singles of the season after battling an upper-body injury. He dealt Jamie Fraser just his fourth loss in 21 matches in straight sets, 6-4, 6-2.
The Mountaineers won the doubles point to take a 1-0 advantage. Stone and
Alex Brea won their match even before it began with a default. Clinching the doubles point was
Milo Bargeron and
Alex Pavkovich, as they topped Pearse Dolan and Libaud, 6-3, for their fourth win of the season.
App State will carry its momentum into Sunday when it hosts UTA at 10 a.m. at Deer Valley Racquet Club.
