Wake Forest University
Louisville
No. 20 Deacons Take Down No. 48 Cardinals 5-2
2/23/2014 12:00:00 AM | Men's Tennis
Feb. 23, 2014
By Alex Botoman, Wake Forest Athletic Communications (@WakeMTennis)
LOUISVILLE, Ky. - No. 20 Wake Forest fought to four straight set singles wins to earn its first road victory of the season, beating No. 48 Louisville 5-2 on Sunday at the Bass-Rudd Tennis Center in Louisville, Ky.
The Demon Deacons (7-2) seized control early in the doubles point and didn't let up in singles to beat the Cardinals (7-3), who will join the Deacons in the Atlantic Coast Conference next season.
Jon Ho clinched the victory at the No. 3 position, closing out Alex Gornet 6-3, 6-3 to earn his fourth consecutive win. The sophomore is now 7-2 this spring with his only two losses coming in third-set tiebreaks.
Despite dropping the No. 2 doubles match, Wake Forest got early breaks at the No. 1 and No. 3 positions and rode them to the finish to earn the doubles point.
In their first time playing at the top position, No. 21 Romain Bogaerts and Maksim Kan cruised by Chris Simich and Albert Wagner 8-3. Anthony Delcore and Aws Laaribi held off Jeffrey Brown and Alex Gornet 8-6 at the deciding No. 3 match to give the Demon Deacons a 1-0 lead in the match.
In singles, Louisville's Michael Lippens briefly brought the match even with a 6-3, 6-1 win over Pedro Dumont, but Laaribi answered right back for the Demon Deacons, blasting Luis Elizondo 6-0, 6-2 at the No. 5 position to restore the lead at 2-1.
No. 40 Bogaerts polished off Sebastian Stiefelmeyer 6-2, 6-3 at the No. 1 position to put Wake Forest on the verge of clinching at 3-1, but Wagner cut the lead to 3-2 with 6-4, 6-3 win over No. 42 Adam Lee at No. 2. It was the first time that Lee had fallen in singles in a dual match since March 15, 2013, snapping a 19-match winning streak.
No. 58 Kan finished off the win for the Demon Deacons, rallying from a deficit in the second set to beat Simich 6-3, 7-6. It was Kan's 14th win in his last 16 matches.
The Demon Deacons will return to action on March 4 when they host No. 37 VCU (3 p.m.) and Belmont Abbey (7 p.m.) in a doubleheader at the Wake Forest Tennis Complex.
#20 Wake Forest 5, #48 Louisville 2
Singles
1. #40 Romain Bogaerts (WF) def. Seb Stiefelmeyer (LOU) 6-2, 6-3
2. Albert Wagner (LOU) def. #42 Adam Lee (WF) 6-4, 6-3
3. Jon Ho (WF) def. Alex Gornet (LOU) 6-3, 6-3
4. #58 Maksim Kan (WF) def. Chris Simich (LOU) 6-3, 7-6
5. Aws Laaribi (WF) def. Luis Elizondo (LOU) 6-0, 6-2
6. Michael Lippens (LOU) def. Pedro Dumont (WF) 6-3, 6-1
Doubles
1. #21 Romain Bogaerts/Maksim Kan (WF) def. Albert Wagner/Chris Simich (LOU) 8-3
2. Seb Stiefelmeyer/Van Damrongsri (LOU) def. Jon Ho/Sam Bloom (WF) 8-3
3. Aws Laaribi/Anthony Delcore (WF) def. Alex Gornet/Jeffrey Brown (LOU) 8-6
Match Notes:
Wake Forest 7-2; National ranking #20
Louisville 7-3; National ranking #48
Order of finish: Doubles (2,1,3*); Singles (6,5,1,2,3*,4)
Players Mentioned
