[Men's Tennis] Cavs Defeat Brevard, 6-3

MONTREAT, N.C. – On Saturday morning at Montreat's Patricia Cornwell Tennis Center, the Cavs' men's tennis team hosted regional rival Brevard College to start a full day of athletic events. The hosts handled the visiting Tornados (0-3) in convincing form, dealing them a 6-3 defeat. 

Montreat opened the match with a pair of key doubles wins. After Brevard's Tom Mittring and Tim Hengst defeated the tandem of Ben Cree (SO/Belfast, Northern Ireland) and Leopoldo Lucero (JR/Quito, Ecuador), 8-6, the Cavaliers (3-4) captured the second and third doubles contests. 

Lorward Choi (JR/Torrance, CA) and David Garcia (JR/Madrid, Spain) defeated Brevard, 8-1, in the second spot. Anh Hoang (JR/Miami, FL) and Grayson Chumley (SO/Woodstock, GA) then beat Brevard's David Bumgarner and Nick Schuch at third doubles by an identical 8-1 score.

"We spent the last week focusing on doubles, because I feel like we're pretty confident in singles," said head coach Andrew Cobb after the match.

Coming out of doubles leading 2-1, Montreat went on to capture four of the six singles matches. Mittring defeated Choi at first singles as Leopoldo defeated Hengst (6-3, 6-4) at second singles on the adjacent court.

"Leo's [Leopoldo] is always a super-sturdy player. He's won a couple of matches just by outgrinding them," said Cobb. "This year he's really stepped up his endurance and his on-court IQ."

After his doubles victory, Garcia fell to Will Christiansen at third singles in two sets and a ten-point tiebreaker (3-6, 6-0, (10-6)). 

Fourth through six singles then steamrolled past the visitors by a combined 32-0 in games. Cree set the tone for the second leg of singles with a 6-0, 6-0 win over Brevard's Jaume Reig.

"Even though Ben lost [at singles], he said he felt great," said Cobb. "Then he played well in singles and he was still implementing how he plays, which is aggressive and closing at the net."

Jackson Plyler (SO/Weddington, NC), and Hoang followed suit and registered 6-0 straight set victories to send the Cavaliers to 2-0 on the season at home. They will look to make it a perfect 3-0 on Wednesday as they conclude their 2017 fall campaign. 

Next up: The Cavaliers host the NCAA Division II Tusculum College Pioneers on Wednesday, Oct. 11 at 2 p.m. at the Patricia Cornwell Tennis Center.

Pictured: Ben Cree's second set results sit in the foreground as David Garcia follows through on a backhand on the adjacent court.

Photo credit: Montreat Athletics