JACKSON, Miss. - Maryville's men's tennis team traveled to Mississippi to end their conference matchups for the year against Belhaven University on Friday, April 17th. While the Blazers have had past success against the Scots, on this occasion the Scots blaze past them to win 7-0, making this Maryville's first win against them in school history. With this win, the Scots to move to 4-2 in conference play, and 10-6 on the year.
From the start of doubles to the end of singles, it was a one-sided affair that swung the Scots way. #1 pair Steven Fitzsimmons and James Smith flew past their opponents 6-1 in doubles, and #3 pair Grant Price and Benjamin Schneider quickly followed that with a 6-2 win to clinch the doubles point for Maryville. #2 pair Jackson Meyer and Field Myatt had the closest match of the doubles, but even that match was a comfortable win with a 6-4 scoreline.
Last year, the Scots took the doubles point and the first sets in all three singles matches to start hot, and that was more of the same in this match. However, all three of those singles matches resulted in wins for the Scots. Price wrapped his match up first, breezing past his opponent at #2 singles with a 6-2, 6-1 score to bring the Scots to 2-0, quickly followed by Myatt at #3 singles with a dominant serving performance to take his match 6-2, 6-3, setting the stage for a Scots clinch within an hour and a half. To close out the match, Smith beat his opponent at #1 singles with a comfortable 6-3, 6-4 match, putting the Scots on top and beating the Blazers.
To build on the history made in Mississippi, the Scots looked to be in prime position to sweep after the quick clinch, and that only looked closer to happening after Fitzsimmons rolled his opponent 6-1, 6-1 at #6 singles to put the Scots up 5-0. After that, Schneider played ruthless tennis to win at #4 singles with a 6-0, 6-2 scoreline, and within two minutes, Luka Romano completed the sweep at #5 singles, blitzing past his opponent to win 6-2, 6-0.
Maryville will look to close out their season with a win against Millsaps College on Saturday, April 18th. This will prove to be a meaningful match for the Scots momentum against a future SAA opponent. The match will start at 10 a.m. Eastern Standard Time.
