CLINTON, S.C. – The Presbyterian College men's tennis team begins its quest for a Big South Championship on Friday at 11 a.m. as the Blue Hose face top seed UNC Asheville in the semifinals from Marion Diehl Park in Charlotte, N.C… Radford who enters the tournament as the two seed faces the No. 3 seed Gardner-Webb at 3 p.m. on Friday with the winners facing off at 3 p.m. on Saturday for the title.
MATCHDAY CENTRAL
MATCHUP: No. 4 Presbyterian (9-6, 2-3 Big South) vs No. 1 UNC Asheville (8-5, 5-0 Big South)
TIME: Friday, April 16, 2021 (11 am)
LOCATION: Marion Diehl Park (Charlotte, N.C.)
LIVE STATS: BigSouth.com
SCOUTING THE BULLDOGS
- UNC Asheville comes into Friday's semifinal with an 8-5 record including a perfect 5-0 record in conference play after a 5-2 win in its final match of the regular season against Gardner-Webb.
- Leo Bierbaum leads UNC Asheville in singles play with a 9-4 record including a perfect 6-0 at No. 3 singles this season for the Bulldogs. Charlie Morkel is 8-6 on the season with a 6-4 record coming at No. 1 singles.
- Harry Thursfield is 7-5 in singles play this season including a 4-2 mark at No. 5 singles.
- On March 24th, UNC Asheville earned a 4-3 win over the Blue Hose in the regular-season matchup played in Asheville.
- PC holds a 9-6 record in the DI era against the Bulldogs including winning all three head-to-head meetings with Asheville during the Big South Championship.
SCOUTING THE HIGHLANDERS
- Radford comes into the tournament on Friday with an 11-6 record and is 4-1 in league play this spring after closing the regular season winning its last five matches including a 6-1 win over PC on April 3 in Radford.
- Aditya Baksekar paces the Highlanders in singles with a 15-2 record, while Konstantinous Raptis and Guilherme Severin both enter the tournament this weekend with a 12-5 record in singles play.
- Severin paired with Yevhen Sirous at No. 1 doubles lead Radford with a 10-5 record.
- Radford holds a 12-4 head-to-head record over Presbyterian with the Highlanders winning all three meetings in the tournament from PC.
SCOUTING THE RUNNIN' BULLDOGS
- Gardner-Webb sits at 8-11 this season with a 3-2 league record as the Runnin' Bulldogs have dropped their last four matches entering the tournament on Friday in Charlotte.
- John Spring leads GWU in singles play with nine wins, while Victor Putter, Sebastian Harris, and Connor Enslin each have eight singles wins this spring.
- Putter paired with Chrisjan Van Wyk leads Gardner-Webb in doubles play with a 9-2 record.
- PC holds a slim 8-7 lead in the series all-time with Gardner-Webb as the two teams have split their two meetings in the Big South tournament.
TOURNAMENT HISTORY
- Friday marks the 10th time that the Blue Hose have competed in the Big South Championship as Presbyterian holds a 10-9 record in tournament matches which includes winning the 2017 league title against Campbell.
ALL-CONFERENCE HONORS
- Junior Max Benson has been named the Big South Player of the Year as announced by the league office on Wednesday as the conference presented its annual awards.
- Benson was also named to the first-team all-conference singles team as well as the doubles team paired with sophomore Georgije Babic. Junior Nicholas McKinney joined Benson on the first-team all-conference singles, while freshman Javier Matos was named to the second team singles. McKinney was also honored on the Big South All-Academic team.
- It's the second time in program history that Presbyterian has earned the Big South Player of the Year as Grayson Mills earned the award in 2014.
LAST TIME OUT
- The Presbyterian College men's tennis team wrapped up the regular season on Friday afternoon with a 4-1 senior day victory over Coastal Carolina at the Templeton Tennis Courts. Before Friday's match, the Blue Hose honored seniors, Alberto Conde and Daniel Stenger.
- With his win at No. 4, McKinney pushed his singles win streak up to seven in a row.
- PC broke a six-match skid against Coastal Carolina with the victory.
