Washington Downs Division II Dallas
Baptist, NAIA Cumberland
ORLANDO, FL -- The Washington College men's tennis
team improved to 3-0 with a pair of wins today in Orlando, FL. The
Shoremen opened the day by winning five of six singles matches
after losing all three doubles matches to knock off Division II
Dallas Baptist, 5-4. Dallas Baptist (5-3) is currently ranked 11th
in Division II's South Central region. Washington then bested NAIA
school Cumberland, 5-1, later in the day.
In the Shoremen's first match, Dallas Baptist swept
doubles. Bronson Vaughan and Richard
Abel downed junior Adam Cranford (Bel Air, MD/John
Carroll) and sophomore Kevin Papen (Dover,
DE/Caesar Rodney), 8-6, at No. 1. Nick
French and Josh King bested junior
Andrew Laux (Mt. Sinai, NY/Mt. Sinai) and senior
Timothy Parks (Geneva, Switzerland/College du
Leman), 8-5, at No. 2, while Phillip
Allen and Clint Baird beat sophomore
Aaron Ellison (Largo, FL/St. Petersburg) and
sophomore John Menzione (Chadds Ford, PA/Kennett),
8-6, at No. 3.
Cranford led off singles with a 6-4, 6-0, win over
King at No. 1 to get the Shoremen on the board. Allen then
completed a 6-4, 6-1, win over Laux at No. 5 to pull the Patriots
within a point of clinching the match at 4-1. Ellison then finished
a 6-4, 6-3, win over Abel at No. 3, while sophomore Kyle
Lisco (Toms River, NJ/Toms River North) beat Baird, 6-3,
6-4, at No. 4 to make it 4-3. Papen rallied to beat Vaughn, 3-6,
6-3, 6-3, at No. 2 to knot the score at 4-4. Menzione and Hanna
entered the third set at No. 6 right after Papen's win. Menzione
won the final set, defeating Hanna, 4-6, 6-3, 6-2, to win the match
for the Shoremen,
Against Cumberland, Washington swept doubles to
take a 3-0 lead. Cranford and Papen beat Mike
Basler and Felipe Oliveira, 8-4, at No.
1. Laux and Parks downed Na'im Azhar and
Devin Crotzer, 9-7, at No. 2, while Menzione and
Ellison beat Jeremy Fleming and Cristhian
Hernandez, 9-8(5), at No. 3.
The Shoremen won at two of the top three singles
spots to clinch the match. The remaining singles matches were not
completed due to time constraints. Cranford beat Azhar, 6-0, 2-6,
10-7, at No. 1 and Ellison bested Hernandez, 6-4, 6-4, at No. 2 for
the Shoremen's points, while Basler beat Papen, 6-2, 6-2, for
Cumberland's lone point.
The Shoremen will play two more matches in Orlando
tomorrow, taking on Ursinus in a Centennial Conference match at
10:00 a.m. and Bethel (TN) at 1:00 p.m.
