After three straight losses to start the season, Longwood men’s tennis gained their first win of the spring at their match against Division III Christopher Newport University (CNU) on Saturday, Feb. 20. After losing to CNU 6-1 last spring, Longwood showed improvement as they walked away with a 4-3 win.
“The work is starting to pay off, and we are getting a lot of confidence moving forward,” said head coach Pierre Tafelski on the Longwood athletics official website.
The Lancers received two doubles victories in the No. 1 and No. 3 positions. Longwood sophomore Alfonso Castellano paired with freshman Julian Farthing in the No. 1 position and beat CNU junior Steven Boslet and senior Chiraag Shetty 8-6. The Lancers' No. 3 pair, junior Rosen Ilchev and senior Bharani Sankar, also won 8-6 over CNU’s freshman Nicholas Ruzicka and junior Sam Thomson.
After going down 3-2 to Christian Newport, Longwood tied it up as Ilchev defeated CNU sophomore Dillon Sykes in the No. 6 singles 6-4, and 6-0. This gave the Lancers a fighting chance going into the last singles match.
After losing the first set 4-6, sophomore Alfonso Castellano came back and won the next two 7-5 and 6-1 in the top-seeded singles match. Castellano’s win in the No. 1 position against CNU sophomore David Reed carried the Lancers to their first positive result.
Longwood men’s tennis will play next on Saturday, Feb. 27 at 2 p.m. against West Virginia Wesleyan College for their home opener.