CONWAY, Ark. -- Despite falling to Dallas Baptist (Texas) in the weekend opener, the John Brown University men's tennis team improved to 4-1 on the season with back-to-back wins over NCAA III Hendrix (Ark.) and Ozarks (Ark.) this past weekend (Feb. 11-12) inside the Hatcher Center.
After beginning the season with a pair of wins over Oklahoma Wesleyan in the fall semester, the Golden Eagles finally returned to action by taking on a trio of opponents in two days. JBU began the weekend falling 6-1 to Dallas Baptist, but rallied to a 5-3 win over Hendrix and a narrow 5-4 victory over Ozarks.
Down 3-2 in the Hendrix match Friday evening, senior Woody Woodring's come-from-behind win at the third flight jump-started a 3-0 rally that allowed the Golden Eagles to turn a 3-2 deficit into the 5-3 win. Woodring dispatched Eric Meyne 3-6, 6-1, 10-3 in tiebreak fashion, making way for junior Carson Thoma's 6-0, 6-2 win at the four spot, giving JBU the lead. Junior Blake Cunningham clinched the match in pedestrian fashion at the bottom flight, using a pair of 6-0 scores to dispatch Connor Brooks.
Sophomore Hudson Dick and Woodring improved to 3-2 on the season after an 8-4 win over Haruto Kanskau and Hikaru Yamaya of Ozarks at the top flight, handing John Brown a 2-1 lead after doubles action on Saturday. Dick then extended the lead to 3-1 with a quick 6-2, 6-0 win over Kanskau, but Ozarks would tie the score at three a piece after claiming the second and third flights.
After Ozarks took a 4-3 lead with just the fourth and sixth slots remaining, John Brown mounted the comeback. Thoma continued his strong play at four, turning a 6-4 first-set loss into a tiebreak chance with a mirror 6-4 win in the second. Thoma knotted the match at four, posting a 10-8 tiebreak win.
With the match on the line, Cunningham kept his perfect mark this season (5-0) by claiming a pair of 6-3 wins over TJ Saniseng - vaulting John Brown to a two-win weekend.
"What an incredible way to finish the weekend," head coach Mike Campbell said. "That is a very good University of the Ozarks team, and once again, it came down to the last flight. Blake's win would not have mattered at all had Carson not come back and pulled off the tiebreak in the third set.
"I'm crazy proud of the way the men came out of this weekend, winning four of five matches so far, exactly where we wanted to be. So proud of them, and we're looking forward to a big matchup with Sterling (Kan.) this coming week."
The Golden Eagles will host Sterling in Siloam Springs on Thursday (Feb. 17) at the JBU Tennis Courts. The contest will begin at 2 p.m.
