HILTON HEAD, S.C. – The Allegheny men's and women's tennis teams headed south for their spring break and landed in a familiar destination, Hilton Head, South Carolina., to play four matches over the next five days. First up on the slate of matches for both teams was NAIA-affiliated Nebraska Wesleyan. The Gator men (6-1) were able to edge the Prairie Wolves 5-4, while the Gator women (5-3) took their match 6-3.Both matches were played simultaneously across nine courts.
The men kicked off their match with the traditional three doubles matches, and came away with two match wins. The duos of Pat Cole/Jacob Allmaras and Frank Mosconi/Charlie Murphy had the wins as Cole/Allmaras took down Jamie Holmes and Nate Hoppe, 8-4, and Mosconi/Murphy defeated Ryan McCarty and Seth Shimerda, 8-2, to give the Gators a 2-1 advantage heading into singles play.
In singles play, the men were able to nail down the three match wins to record the team win. Singles winners included Cole in flight one (6-4, 6-1), Murphy in flight four (6-3, 6-4), and Mosconi (6-4, 6-3). Mosconi was first to pick up a win, followed by Cole, and Murphy picked up the clinching win.
On the women's side, they began their match with singles play first. The Gators were able to nearly clinch the match in singles play as they picked up four wins. Among the winners were Carolyn Shetter in flight one (3-6, 6-1, 10-8), Sara Longo in flight three (6-3, 6-0), Elyse Schmitt in flight four (6-4, 7-5), and Deb Landau in flight six (6-0, 6-4).
With a 4-2 advantage heading into double's play, the Gators needed to win one of the three doubles matches to clinch the team win. The duos of Lauren Kristofco/Longo, and Janna Dickerson/Shetter picked up wins. Kristofco/Longo had the match-clinching win for the fifth point.
Both the men and women return to action tomorrow with matches against the men's and women's teams of Carlton College. Each match is scheduled to start at 12:00 p.m.
