Misenheimer, NC – The Coker Men’s tennis team were left feeling deflated after a narrow 6-3 defeat at the hands of conference rival Pfeiffer University. The Coker Men played tough from the first point and were desperately unfortunate to lose some very close matches.

Matt Byford and Duncan Grew opened up at number one doubles and jumped in to an early lead with some big returns. Byford and Grew continued to return and serve well to take a 5-2 lead. The pair dominated the net to close out a good 8-4 win. However, Pfeiffer came back and won close matches at number 2 and number 3 doubles to lead 2-1 going in to singles.

Needing four singles wins, the Coker Men came out strong at the top. Matt Byford put in his best performance of the season and cruised to a 6-2 6-2 victory at number 2 singles to level the match at 2-2. Tim Morton was playing well at 3 singles and was unfortunate to fall 7-5 7-6 in a very tough match. Duncan Grew won the first set at number 1 singles on a tie breaker. However, the fatigue of the first set counted later on and Pfeiffer went on to close the match out 6-1 in the third set.

With Pfeiffer leading 4-2, Coker needed the final three singles matches to earn the win. Danny Nash played arguably his best career match for the Cobras at 4 singles as he cruised to a 6-0 6-1 victory in a faultless display. Now trailing 4-3, Dustin Yager came out at 5 singles looking for the win. Pfeiffer took the first set 6-3 and came from 5-2 down in the second to earn a 7-6 win in a closely fought match. In the final remaining singles, Tyson Thompson battled hard through an injury but eventually succumbed 6-3 6-2.

The Coker Men are now 3-10 on the season and 1-5 in the CVAC. They next play at conference rival Lees McRae this Sunday at 12:00p.m.

Scores

1 Doubles: Byford/Grew (Coker) def. Sriram/Maurer (Pfeiffer)- 8-4

2 Doubles: Flores/Wiyanto (Pfeiffer) def. Yager/Nash (Coker) – 8-4

3 Doubles: Jones/Zach Shandor (Pfeiffer) def. Morton/Thompson (Coker) – 8-6

1 Singles: Teo Wiyanto (Pfeiffer) def. Duncan Grew (Coker) – 6-7 6-1 6-1

2 Singles: Matt Byford (Coker) def.– Mangal Sriram (Pfeiffer) – 6-2 6-2

3 Singles: TJ Maurer (Pfeiffer) def.– Tim Morton (Coker) – 7-5 7-6 (4)

4 Singles: Danny Nash (Coker) def. AJ Flores (Pfeiffer) – 6-0 6-1

5 Singles: Chad Jones (Pfeiffer) def. Dustin Yager (Coker) – 6-3 7-6 (6)

6 Singles: Jay Nicholas (Pfeiffer) def.– Tyson Thompson (Coker) – 6-3 6-2

Final: Pfeiffer University 6 Coker College 3