FARMVILLE, Va. – Home sweet home, indeed.
Longwood men's tennis extended its unbeaten home streak to 3-0 Monday afternoon with a 4-0 takedown of future Big South peer North Carolina A&T at the Lancer Courts. The win was the Lancers' second shutout in 24 hours following the team's 4-0 triumph over Mount St. Mary's Sunday.
Monday Longwood (6-4) once again leveraged the momentum from a doubles-point win to grind out three consecutive straight-set singles wins that clinched the victory. The doubles-point win improved the Lancers to 5-1 this season when securing that first point of the match, and this time came behind wins from the pairings of No. 1
Amadeo Blasco and
Guillermo Cagigas, and No. 3
Rosen Naydenov and
Ernest Rocabert.
The victory took place amid wind gusts up to 18 miles per hour on the Lancers' home courts, but the Lancers weathered those conditions to win six of the seven bouts they completed. The lone exception was the No. 2 doubles line, which the Aggies (1-9) pair of Jorge Goenaga and Pablo Carranza won 6-1. Longwood quickly rectified that defeat thanks to its top pairing, as Blasco and Cagigas toppled Nicolas Arduh and Vail Ivanov 6-4 for a 1-0 advantage.
"It's been good to play at home, and spring break is a great time for us to play as many matches as we can," said third-year head coach
Jhonnatan Medina Alvarez.
"Both teams are doing a good job of focusing on the things we need to focus on and working hard. The emotional component of the game is a personal thing for me; when you get on the court, you want to have the ability to adapt to a situation. Today, for example, it was really windy, and it wasn't normal day. You're going to struggle because of the environment, so can you handle that? I think we were able to manage that well."
After the doubles win, Longwood continued the onslaught in singles play, culminating the victory when Sergio closed out a 6-2, 6-4 triumph over North Carolina A&T No. 2 Nicolas Arduh. That match-clinching fourth point followed singles victories from No. 1 Blasco and No. 4 Sandoval, who defeated Vail Ivanov 6-2, 6-2 and Pablo Carranza 6-3, 6-2 respectively.
Cagigas was also up in the second set against his No. 3 counterpart Jorge Goenaga before Sergio's clincher ended the remaining singles matches prematurely, leaving his unfinished score at 6-4, 2-1.
The match sends Longwood into a four-day break before their next match on Saturday, March 7, which brings regional rival George Washington to campus for the first of back-to-back home matches. The Lancers then welcome Big South foe USC Upstate Sunday for a 10 a.m. first serve.
"Now the real stuff is coming," Medina Alvarez said. "We're playing better teams, and I'm hoping they're seeing the benefit of playing a schedule that allows them to play good matches, go back into the workshop, do some things, and get back out there. There's a flow of peaking at important times, and after today, that's playing Friday, Saturday and Sunday this weekend. It's important for us to be ready for that stretch emotionally more than anything else."
Longwood 4, North Carolina A&T 0
March 2, 2020
Farmville, Va. (Lancer Courts)
Singles
1. BLASCO, Amadeo (LWUM) def. IVANOV, Vail (NCAT) 6-2, 6-2
2. SERGIO, Guilherme (LWUM) def. ARDUH, Nicolas (NCAT) 6-2, 6-4
3. CAGIGAS, Guillermo (LWUM) vs. GOENAGA, Jorge (NCAT) 6-4, 2-1, unfinished
4. SANDOVAL, Ignacio (LWUM) def. CARRANZA, Pablo (NCAT) 6-3, 6-2
5. ROCABERT, Ernest (LWUM) vs. MARTINO, Nolan (NCAT) 4-6, 4-2, unfinished
6. CASASNOVAS, Marc (LWUM) vs. SIMPSON (NCAT) 3-0, unfinished
Doubles
1. BLASCO, Amadeo/CAGIGAS, Guillermo (LWUM) def. ARDUH, Nicolas/IVANOV, Vail (NCAT) 6-4
2. GOENAGA, Jorge/CARRANZA, Pablo (NCAT) def. CASASNOVAS, Marc/SERGIO, Guilherme (LWUM) 6-1
3. NAYDENOV, Rosen/ROCABERT, Ernest (LWUM) def. MARTINO, Nolan/SIMPSON (NCAT) 6-1
Order of finish: Doubles (3,2,1); Singles (1,4,2)
#GoWood
