ASHLAND, Va. – An exciting doubles match in the No. 1 slot gave way to a Randolph-Macon win, but the Yellow Jackets could not grasp that momentum as Men's Tennis fell to Virginia Wesleyan Friday afternoon.

The Basics

Score: Virginia Wesleyan 6, Randolph-Macon 3

Location/Venue: Ashland, Va./Banks Tennis Center

Records: Virginia Wesleyan (8-6, 3-0 ODAC), Randolph-Macon 2-1 (2-1 ODAC)

How It Happened

• In early action, Virginia Wesleyan got the edge. As No. 3 Doubles finished first, the Marlins' duo of Anthony Wilson and Timothy Tep defeated R-MC's sophomore pairing of Alex Hein (Windermere, Fla. / Windermere Preparatory School) and Erik Moulton (Yorktown, Va. / York) 8-2. Seniors Shane Berry (Midlothian, Va. / James River) and Jacob Haines (Springfield, Va. / West Springfield) also fell in No. 2 Doubles to Paul Gladstone and Mike Portera 8-5.
• Junior Grant Sarver (Richmond, Va. / Mills Godwin) and Freshman Ryan Aud (Fishersville, Va. / Wilson Memorial) battled back and forth at No. 1 Doubles with VWU's Nick Gunther and Mitchell Perry. The Marlins duo had the early lead, but the Yellow Jacket pair battle back and took a 4-3 lead. Eventually, the match locked at 7-7, forcing a tiebreak set. The set locked at both 3-3 and 4-4, but the R-MC pair took the edge late and won the tiebreak 7-5.
• With the 2-1 lead heading into the singles competition, VWU was able to take matches at No. 6 singles as well as No. 3 Singles and No. 4 Singles to secure victory. The Marlins also took the No. 1 Singles slot after the match had been decided.
• Haines won his match at No. 2 Singles as he defeated Andreas Combos 6-2, 6-2.
• Aud remained undefeated on the season as he defeated Perry. Aud won the first set 7-6 before dropping the second set 4-6. As the match had been decided at that point, the two played a single tiebreak set, which Aud won 10-3 to get the win.

Inside The Numbers

• In No. 1 Singles, Sarver battled forcefully and forced a tiebreak for the first set, but lost to Gladstone 7-6 (10-5), 6-3.
• In No. 3 Singles, Hein forced a third set after winning the first, but eventually was defeated by Gunther 3-6, 6-3, 6-0.
• Gunther defeated Berry at No. 4 Singles 6-2, 6-4.
• At No. 6 Singles, Wilson got the better of sophomore Dani Recarte (Madrid, Spain / Wakefield School) 6-3, 6-2.

Schedule Changes and Up Next

Randolph-Macon has made some schedule changes for the upcoming days.

• Women's Tennis will face Sweet Briar tomorrow at 11:00 AM. A time was previously not designated.
• Men's and Women's Tennis against Washington College has been canceled for Sunday. The match will not be made up.
• Men's and Women's Tennis will face Guilford in Greensboro on Monday, April 1. The match has been rescheduled from March 10. The Men will take the court at 2:00 PM and the Women will play at 3:30 PM.
• Men's Tennis will take on Washington and Lee in Ashland on Saturday, April 27 at 2:00 PM. The match has been rescheduled from March 21.