FARMVILLE, Va. – After almost a two-week, weather-related hiatus that caused the postponement of three straight matches, Longwood men's tennis shook off the rust and steamrolled Norfolk State 4-1 Thursday at the NSU Tennis Complex.
Playing to clinch, Longwood (6-3) overcame a doubles-point loss with four consecutive singles wins at the top of the lineup, ending the match on sophomore Rasisei Sakai's 6-3, 6-2 win at No. 4.
Sakai's victory capped a dominant run in singles play in which Lancer ace
Amadeo Blasco, No. 2
Guilherme Sergio, No. 3
Guillermo Cagigas and Sakai all won in straight sets. The win was Longwood's fourth in the past five matches, a span in which the Lancers have surrendered just six points.
Blasco's singles win was the 65th of his career, extending his hold on Longwood's all-time singles winning percentage record at .813 (65-15) and putting him within 23 victories of catching Longwood's all-time wins leader,
Nobu Tanaka. He ranks third on that all-time singles wins list, trailing only Tanaka and senior teammate
Julian Farthing, who is 69-28 (.711) in his career to trail only Blasco on the all-time singles winning percentage list.
Farthing's shot at picking up his 70th career win was cut short by Sakai's clincher, halting a match in which he was ahead 6-4, 0-1. Sophomore teammate
Rosen Naydenov was also leading by the same score at No. 6 upon Sakai's win.
Longwood had no need for those two wins to wrap up, however, after Sergio tied the score with his 6-2, 6-2 win at No. 2, and Cagigas followed with a go-ahead 7-5, 6-0 win at No. 3. Blasco made it a 3-0 lead with his 6-4, 7-5 win at No. 1, and Sakai finished the job with his win.
Blasco's win ran his singles streak to nine straight, while Sergio extended a six-match win streak and Cagigas won his third straight.
The Lancers will now gear up for a two-match weekend that will first send the Lancers to North Carolina A&T on Saturday before the Lancers head to Winthrop Sunday for the Big South opener.
Longwood 4, Norfolk State 1
March 14, 2019
Norfolk, Va. (NSU Tennis Complex)
Singles competition
1. BLASCO, Amadeo (LWU) def. DA SILVA, Vini (NSUM) 6-4, 7-5
2. SERGIO, Guilherme (LWU) def. ALCARAZ, Andres (NSUM) 6-2, 6-2
3. CAGIGAS, Guillermo (LWU) def. FERNANDEZ,Flavian (NSUM) 7-5, 6-0
4. SAKAI, Raisei (LWU) def. DUMITRASCU,Dan (NSUM) 6-3, 6-2
5. CARRIZO, Agustin (NSUM) vs. FARTHING, Julian (LWU) 4-6, 1-0, unfinished
6. GUEVEL, Ignacio (NSUM) vs. NAYDENOV, Rosen (LWU) 4-6, 1-0, unfinished
Doubles competition
1. FERNANDEZ,Flavian/CARRIZO, Agustin (NSUM) vs. BLASCO, Amadeo/SERGIO, Guilherme (LWU) 2-5, unfinished
2. DA SILVA, Vini/GUEVEL, Ignacio (NSUM) def. FARTHING, Julian/SAKAI, Raisei (LWU) 6-3
3. ALCARAZ, Andres/DUMITRASCU,Dan (NSUM) def. CASASNOVAS, Marc/CAGIGAS, Guillermo (LWU) 6-1
Match Notes
Longwood 6-3
Norfolk State 2-4
Order of finish: Doubles (3,2); Singles (2,3,1,4)
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