DAVIDSON, N.C. — The freshman duo of
Chris Mark (Union City, Calif.) and
Joe Schafer (Orchard Park, N.Y.) remained perfect in their first season, picking up a pair of singles wins to lead Davidson to a 7-0 sweep of visiting South Carolina State to close out the month of January on Sunday afternoon at the Knobloch Tennis Center.
The two first-year players helped the Wildcats finish January on a three-match win streak and improve to 3-1overall.
Schafer, in his first match at No. 1 singles, scored a 7-5, 6-4 triumph over Radek Pivonka to run his singles mark to 3-0 on the season. He also teamed up with senior
Eric Noble (Fayetteville, N.C.) to help the ‘Cats sweep the doubles matches, earning a tie-breaker win, 9-8, at the No. 1 position. The duo are 2-1 on the season in doubles.
Mark ran his singles record to a team-best 4-0 with an impressive 6-2, 6-2 sweep of Alexander Malko at No. 3. All four of his wins this year have come in straight sets.
The freshman also picked up his third doubles win with
Sam Burns (Banner Elk, N.C.), an 8-4 decision at No. 3.
Burns, seeing his first action in a spring singles match since the 2008 season, recorded a 6-2, 7-5 win over David Grund at No. 5. The senior was took a year off last season.
Rounding out the singles points were
Walker Lyons (Wallingford, Pa.),
Calum Gee (Ayr, Scotland) and
Kevin Moore (Overland, Kan.). Both Lyons and Gee needed an extra set to score their wins, while Moore registered his first collegiate win in a 6-1, 6-4 decision over Radek Langer at No. 6.
Prior to their singles wins, Lyons and Gee remained undefeated as a doubles team, picking up an 8-5 victory at No. 2 to run their record to 3-0.
Davidson caps off its four-match homestand with a mid-week match against Gardner-Webb, Feb. 3, at 4 p.m.