CHARLESTON, S.C. – The Citadel tennis squad will be in action on Friday and Saturday as the Bulldogs trek to North Carolina to take on No. 13 Wake Forest and Methodist.
The Bulldogs dropped a 7-0 decision at Georgia Tech in their most recent match last Sunday.
Hayden Shoemake and
Zvonko Bencedic each won five games off their ACC opponents at the No. 3 and No. 4 singles positions, respectively, and
Phillip Quinn and
Andrew Darby paired at No. 3 doubles to take three games off the Yellow Jackets.
The Citadel has already scored one win over Methodist this season, tallying a 6-3 win in a non-traditional scoring match on Feb. 6. Each doubles match counted as a single point, and the Monarchs took two of the three to open an early 2-1 lead. The Bulldogs rallied back, however, taking five of the six singles matches, including a pair of straight-sets wins from Shoemake and
Josiah Schainblatt, to claim the victory.
Wake Forest, ranked No. 13 in the latest ITA rankings released on Wednesday afternoon, is 5-2 to start the season with its lone losses coming against Oklahoma and Virginia. The Demon Deacons have already posted 7-0 sweeps of two fellow Southern Conferences foes in ETSU and Wofford and are set to take on Notre Dame to open ACC play earlier in the afternoon prior to the 6 p.m. start against The Citadel on Friday.
The Demon Deacons sport four players ranked in the latest ITA singles rankings, led by No. 31 Bar Botzer; he is joined by Rrezart Cungu (No. 92), Taha Baadi (No. 107) and Luciano Tacchi (No. 121). In doubles, Wake Forest has one ranked duo in Henri Squire and Eduardo Nava, ranked No. 18 in the nation.
The aforementioned 6-3 loss against the Bulldogs remains the lone match that Methodist has played this season, as scheduled bouts against Georgia Southern and Elon have since been cancelled.
Following this weekend's matches, The Citadel is set to open SoCon play as well as play its first match at home next Saturday afternoon at 1 p.m. against Wofford. The Bulldogs will be looking to snap a 12-match losing streak against the Terriers and last earned a win in the series on Feb. 25, 2008, in a tight 4-3 decision.
