DANVILLE, Ky. – Coming off of a 9-0 sweep of Millsaps on Saturday, the Centre men's tennis team (9-5, 2-1 SAA) hosted the Birmingham Southern Panthers for their final home contest of the season on Sunday. Celebrating seven seniors in their final seasons as Colonels, the Gold and White were able to make their Danville finale a memorable one with a victory on a 6-3 final score.
In one of the tightest contests of the season for the Colonels, Centre was able to pull out ahead to start the event by sweeping wins on all three doubles matches.
Bo Bush and
Jasper Gazzo continued to dominate their opposing student-athletes, their sixth win in a row together resulting in an 8-5 final score as the team's No. 2 series. The senior duo of
Danny Nelson and
Newcomb Maddux continued on their momentum as well, the pair that formed about a month and a half ago emerged victorious in a final score of 8-6, the No. 3 partners now 5-2 on the season. The final series to conclude was at the top of the lineup, the 8-6 score being a nail biter that landed in favor of
Ashton Whitt and
Faraz Ghamgosar.
The Panthers started to gather momentum in the singles portion of the contest with a couple quick points, but the Colonels fended them off to snag the fifth point in a poetic fashion. Whitt had the most dominant win out of the six series, the Colonels' No. 4 laying down a 6-1, 6-0 victory. The senior day victory was wrapped by senior
Matthew Bulow, coming into the contest as the team's No. 5 for his third-straight singles win in a 7-6 (5), 6-3 thriller. Gazzo's No. 3 series was the sixth and final point the Gold and White would get on Sunday, the freshman providing a stellar back half match on a 4-6, 6-3, 6-1 final score. The three points for BSC would be taken from the No. 6, No. 1 and No. 2 series on Sunday;
Jett Anderson (6-4, 6-4), Ghamgosar (6-2, 6-1) and Bush (7-6 (5), 1-6, 1-6) unable to garner wins.
The Colonels were able to celebrate their senior class by holding some exhibition matches in doubles, unofficial on the scorecard.
Owen Alsup and
Ian Cowan teamed up in one of the series,
Thomas Kaplan and
Edward Lee Major pairing up for the other.
Although the squad celebrated their senior class on Sunday, Centre still has four more matches against conference opponents before the end of the regular season. The Colonels will split two contests each weekend, the next up being in Conway, Ark., to take on Hendrix at 11 a.m. on Saturday, April 9.
