ORLANDO, Fla. – Maryville opened its Spring Break week of matches with an impressive 7-0 sweep of Cornell College.
The victory avenged a pair of losses to the Rams each of the past two Spring Breaks in Hilton Head, South Carolina. The change of venue must have been what the Scots needed because they were in charge from the start Sunday afternoon.
Maryville needed tiebreakers to win the doubles point. The Scots lost at the No. 2 postion but rallied at No. 3, with
Eli Cauthorn and
Kaleb Burke prevailing 7-6 after a 7-3 outcome in the tiebreak. Then at No. 1 doubles,
James Smith and
Luka Romano rallied from 6-2 down in their tiebreak to win 7-6 (11-9) and take the important first point.
"We have played Cornell College to open Spring Break for three years in a row," Maryville head coach
Doug Corbett said. "Great feeling to finally get the upper hand against these guys!
"The doubles were not up to the standard we are working to get to despite managing to steal the point. The response in singles is what we were looking for."
That response began with Smith rolling to a 6-1, 6-1 triumph at the No. 1 spot.
Field Myatt followed with a 6-0, 6-4 victory at No. 3 and Cauthorn took down his Cornell College opponent 6-3, 6-3 to complete the victory.
Romano won by the same score line at No. 2 and then
Pedro Cunha completed his match by winning 7-5, 6-3 at No. 5. That left it to Crane to complete the perfect 7-0 result, and the junior came through 7-6 (7-4), 0-6, 1-0 (12-10).
"Coach Trent (Schneider) and I have a good relationship, so we plan to continue playing over the coming years. You can call it a rivalry, I guess, and it felt good to get it done today."
The Scots improved to 4-2, while Cornell College dropped to 7-4.
Maryville is back in action Monday against Hampden-Sydney in a 2:30 p.m. start.
