Men's tennis team beats George Mason with singles shutout

With a string of singles wins, the University of Richmond men's tennis team overcame doubles defeats to beat George Mason University April 3.

On a sunny, but cold Wednesday afternoon, the Spiders won against the Patriots 5-1. About 45 people came at various times during the 4-hour match, said Hannah Wagner, athletic public relations assistant.

Richmond lost two of the three doubles sets at the start of the game, with the pairing of redshirt sophomore Ethan Dunbar and senior Sebastien Fauchet picking up the only win in an 8-2 set.

After losing the doubles point, the Spiders went on to win five of the six singles sets. The sixth set was discontinued at the agreement of both players after Richmond's winning overall became inevitable.

Richmond players need only two sets to pick three of those singles wins, while the other two wins had Richmond players winning their matches 2 sets to 1. Senior Jesse Feder picked up the match point with a 3-6, 6-1, 6-2 victory.

With this win, the Spiders have a winning record for the first time since Feb. 2. "I think we're starting to play our best tennis right now," Dunbar said of the team's prospects for the coming Atlantic 10 Conference championships.

The Spiders are now 10-9 overall, and 3-4 in their conference. They have four games left in their regular season, and their next is against conference opponent Charlotte at home on Saturday, April 6.

Contact opinion editor Ben Panko at ben.panko@richmond.edu