WINCHESTER, Va. – No. 6 Guilford College registered the first upset of the 2023 ODAC Men's Tennis Tournament with a 5-4 victory over No. 3 Shenandoah Wednesday afternoon.
Shenandoah (12-6) was looking to advance to its first-ever ODAC Tournament semi-finals, but the Quakers (8-9) flipped the one result they needed to advance to this weekend's final four.
IN BRIEF
SU, which had topped Guilford, 5-4, in Greensboro on Apr. 2, found itself with its collective backs to the wall Tuesday as GC jumped out to a 4-1 lead thanks to wins at Nos. 1 and 3 doubles and Nos. 5 and 6 singles.
Shenandoah rallied from this point, however, winning Nos. 2, 3, and 4 singles all in straight sets to tie it at 4-4.
Artem Babaiev was a 6-1, 6-2 victor at No. 2,
Dominick Suwak 6-0, 6-4 at No. 3, and
Keith Orr 6-2, 6-3 at No. 4.
This left it all up to the match at No. 1 between Andres Mercedes from Guilford and the Hornets
Jovan Cirkovic. Three weeks ago in their first matchup, Mercedes was a three-set winner and Mercedes duplicated that effort Wednesday with a 6-2, 4-6, 6-4 victory.
Suwak and Orr were double winners for the hosts as they won, 8-1, at No. 2 doubles.
The loss ends the most successful season in the program's university-era history.
UP NEXT
The Hornets 2023-24 schedule will be announced in late summer.
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