Wildcats Wrap Up ITA Men's Tennis Regionals After Successful Day Two

Friday, October 15

Chapel Hill, N.C.

All Day

Davidson College Athletics

at Regionals (hosted by UNC)

Photo by: Tim Cowie - DavidsonPhotos.com

Wildcats Wrap Up ITA Men's Tennis Regionals After Successful Day Two

10/17/2010 12:00:00 AM | Men's Tennis

Gavin McFarlin -- Assistant SID

ITA Carolinas Regional

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. — The Davidson men's tennis team finished it run at ITA Regionals as two Wildcats who reached the round of 64 saw their play come to an end on Saturday, while two other Wildcats also competed in singles play on the second day of play on Friday.

The pair of Chris Mark (Union City, Calif.) and Joe Schafer (Orchard Park, N.Y.) each advanced to the round of 64 in singles play with strong wins in their first round matches. Mark fought back from dropping his first set in a tie-breaker (7-6) to score 6-2 and 6-4 wins in the next two sets to defeat Larbi Lamzouri of Campbell. The sophomore then took on No. 1-seeded Henrique Cunha of Duke on Saturday morning and fell by the score of 6-1, 6-2 in the second round.

Schafer, who reached the round of 16 last year as a freshman, nearly matched that accomplishment as he opened up with a win over a Campbell player in singles action on Friday. He scored a 6-4, 6-4 straight set victory and then drew Duke's Cale Hammond in the second round. He cruised to a 6-4, 6-2 to reach the round of 32 on Saturday where he matched up against Jonathan Wolff of Wake Forest. Schafer dropped the first set, 6-0, but came back strong for a 6-1 second-set win to force the third set. Wolff proved to be too much as the eighth-seeded singles player earned a 6-1 win over Schafer to end the sophomores regional run.

Seniors Walker Lyons (Wallingford, Pa.) and Arie Hefter (Birmingham, Ala.) also took part in the singles rounds, each dropping their first round matches. Lyons fell to SoCon-foe Philip Nemec of Elon, 6-3, 6-3, while Hefter fell to a SoCon opponent in Furman's Sawyer Duncan 6-4, 6-2. The two opponents were both seeded 17th in their singles brackets.

Seeing their run come to an end in doubles play was Schafer and Calum Gee (Ayr, Scotland). The duo reached the round of 16 on Thursday after upsetting the fifth-seeded team from NC State in the second round. Schafer and Gee then faced the ninth-seeded team from Duke on Friday and dropped an 8-5 decision.

This was the Wildcats final Fall event. Their spring season opens on Jan. 15 with a doubleheader against NC State and UNC Wilmington in Raleigh, N.C.