Mark and Hefter Give Wildcat M. Tennis First SoCon Win, 4-3

Sunday, April 3

Davidson, N.C.

1:00 p.m.

Davidson College

Georgia Southern

Photo by: Tim Cowie - DavidsonPhotos.com

Mark and Hefter Give Wildcat M. Tennis First SoCon Win, 4-3

4/3/2011 6:31:05 PM | Men's Tennis

Gavin McFarlin -- Assistant SID

Match Results

DAVIDSON, N.C. — Senior Arie Hefter (Birmingham, Ala.) and sophomore Chris Mark (Union City, Calif.) both came back from first set defeats to win their singles matches in three sets, and the Davidson men's tennis team scored their first league win of the season with a 4-3 victory vs. Georgia Southern on a sunny Sunday afternoon at the Covington Tennis Courts for Senior Day.

The Wildcats (5-15, 1-6 SoCon) snapped a five-match skid and picked up their fifth win at home as they were playing their last regular-season home match.

GSU fell back to .500 with a 9-9 record and saw its Southern Conference record drop to 2-4.

Davidson was finally on the right side a 4-3 SoCon decision as it took the doubles point and then went on to capture three of the six singles matches. The 'Cats earlier this year had dropped 4-3 decisions to Chattanooga, Elon, Samford and Wofford.

For the fourth straight match, and seventh time in the last eight matches, the 'Cats took the early lead by earning the doubles team point.

Joe Schafer (Orchard Park, N.Y.) and Calum Gee (Ayr, Scotland) ran their winning streak to four in a row with a 9-7 win at No. 1, while the team of Walker Lyons (Wallingford, Pa.) and Ethan Kallick (Pittsburgh, Pa.) made it two straight as a team with an 8-2 win at No. 2. The duo are a team-best 9-9 on the year, 5-2 vs. the SoCon. Lyons was playing his final career doubles match at home.

Davidson as a team is 13-8 overall in doubles matches vs. league opponents.

Mark and Hefter then took care of making sure the Wildcats secured the winning singles points when they both came back from first set defeats. Mark trailed 6-3 after one set, but charged back with a blanking of Matthijs Verdam in the second set, 6-0, and then won the match with a 6-4 victory at No. 2 singles.

Hefter rose to the challenge in his final singles match at home as a Wildcat. He saw Edio Castanhel take the first set, 6-2, at No. 4 singles, but the senior came back with his own 6-2 win in set two and then sealed up his fourth singles win of the year with an impressive 6-1 triumph in the final set. He snapped a personal nine-match losing streak with the win on the afternoon.

Davidson's final point came from Kallick, who cruised to a 6-1, 6-1 downing of Thomas Bekkers at No. 6. The freshman evened his record to 2-2 and picked up his first career SoCon victory.

Also playing in his final home match was Carter Braxton (Charlotte, N.C.), who teamed with Mark at No. 3 doubles. The pair fell 8-2 as it was their first match together this year.

The Wildcats close out the regular season on a three-match road trip to The Citadel (Apr. 9, 1 p.m.), College of Charleston (Apr. 10, 1 p.m.) and Furman (Apr. 14, 3 p.m.)