February 9, 2008

Pioneers Open Season With Wins Over West Liberty State, Balwin-Wallace

The Malone College men's tennis team, led by fourth-year head coach Tom Brown, posted two victories last weekend to open up the 2008 season.  On Friday night, in a home match at the Towpath Racquet Club in Akron, Malone defeated West Liberty State (WV) College 8-1 and then, on Saturday, the Pioneers collected a road win at Baldwin-Wallace College 5-4, the team's first victory against B-W in many years according to coach Brown. 
 
    
In the B-W match, with Malone trailing 4-1, which included losses at the #1 and #2 doubles, the Pioneers won each of the remaining four singles matches in three sets each.  In that final singles match, freshman David Cairns (Strongsville, OH) fought back against cramps and the loss of his regular racket to emerge with the victory and secure the stunning come-from-behind win over B-W.
 
    
Scores for the two matches (in order - West Liberty St., Baldwin-Wallace) were as follows:
 
#1 Jason Christman (Sr., McKinley H.S.)        W 6-3, 6-2            L 6-4, 6-1
 
#2 Kyle Bowers (Jr., Norwalk H.S.)                W 6-4, 6-2           W 6-7, 6-2, 6-2   
 
#3 David Cairns (Fr., Strongsville, OH)           W 6-0, 6-2           W 7-5, 4-6, 6-2 
 
#4 Nathaniel Rodd  (So., Canton, OH)            W 6-1, 6-0           W 6-4, 6-7, 6-0
 
#5 Tim Springirth (Jr., Erie, PA)                       W 6-4, 6-2           W 7-6, 4-6, 6-4
 
#6 Dan Yard (Sr., Louisville H.S.)                    L 6-1, 7-6             L 6-1, 6-0               
 
#1 Christman/Bowers                                       W 8-1                   L 8-4
 
#2 Rodd/Springirth                                           W 8-2                   L 8-3                   
 
#3 Cairns/Tim Frazier (So., Beaver Falls, PA)  W 8-4                   W 9-8
 
     
This week, Malone (2-0) will host West Virginia Wesleyan College on Friday at 5:00 p.m. at the Hall of Fame Fitness Center and will conclude its week by competing at Oberlin College on Saturday in a 2:00 p.m. contest.
 
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