Written by Alex Dowley. Media by Ryan Dunn.[divide]
The Greenville College Men’s Tennis team participated in a double header on Saturday February 28th in Moline IL, against St. Ambrose University and Knox College. In Greenville’s first match the panthers took the court Vs. Saint Ambrose, the panthers fought hard winning only one out of three doubles. Winning for Greenville was the number one doubles team of Alex Dowley and Jon Urshan, with a score of 8-6.
After a short break, the panthers took the court for singles. The panthers fought hard trying to make up the doubles deficit but fell short in many close matches. Winning at singles for GC was Nate Wieland with a score of 6-4 4-6 10-8, and Justin McDonald with the score of 6-3, 6-7 10-6. Demetrius Bush lost a hard-hitting match 2-6 6-3 8-10. The Panthers fought hard and almost pulled the comeback but ultimately lost 3-6.
Right after, the Panthers took on Knox College and the panthers got off to a great start, after shaking off the rust from the match before. The panthers won two out of three doubles matches. #2 Doubles Demetrius Bush & Nate Wieland won 8-2 and #3 Doubles, Code Power and Justin McDonald won 8-0. Taking the hot start into singles the panthers were determined to go home with a win. Winning for Greenville was Alex Dowley at #3 Singles 7-6(8-6) 6-1 and Demetrius Bush won a decisive match 6-1 6-0, at #5 singles Code Power won 6-1 6-1 and Justin McDonald with a perfect record of 4-0 extended his winning streak with a win at #6 Singles 6-0 6-0. The team was able to come back from their earlier loss and win 6-3. Coach Brett Brannon said, “ I challenged you all to be committed before we started doubles against St. Ambrose, and that is exactly what I saw. Since we weren’t real sharp, there were definitely chances for guys to play “blame game”. Not only did I not hear one word of blame from anyone…. I didn’t see any body language that would indicate frustration with your partner. I also heard some of you talk about what YOU could have done better in doubles. That is high character, team stuff!”
Assistant coach Ian Wolf said, “Our guys fought hard today and never quit, I am excited to see what this team can do for the rest of the season, there was some unbelievable play out there today, and our guys fought tough through all of it.”
Greenville has a record of 3-1 and will be playing Franklin College March 6th in Indianapolis.
Tennis is just a wonderful game to watch and play. Greenville College team is just fantastic whether they loss or win, I always love you guys.