April 13, 2001
GREENVILLE, S.C.- The 61st ranked Furman men's tennis team downed Georgia Southern 6-1 Friday afternoon at the Minor Mickel Tennis Center to claim a share of the Southern Conference regular season title.
Sophomore James Cameron clinched the conference title with a 4-6, 6-3, 6-2 victory at No. 2 singles over Wojciach Nowak. John Chesworth, Chris Henderson, Eric Ward, and Patrick Fillnow each recorded straight set singles victories for the Paladins.
Furman opened the match by claiming the doubles point with wins at No. 1 and No. 3 doubles as each team finished the conference season unbeaten. Furman's No. 2 doubles team of Patrick Fillnow and Andrew Rogers suffered their first conference loss of the season with a 8-2 loss to Georgia Southernšs Wojciach Nowak and Darren Clark.
Furman improves to 16-9 overall, 9-1 in league play, while Georgia Southern falls to 7-7 overall, 3-4 in the SoCon. UNCG also finished the season 9-1, while currently ETSU holds a 7-1 conference mark. If the Bucs win their remaining two contests, all three will share the SoCon title and a random drawing will determine the No. 1 seed in next weekend's conference tournament. If ETSU drops one of their remaining two matches, Furman will earn the No. 1 seed by virtue of a 5-2 victory over UNCG this season.
Furman has now claimed 13 Southern Conference championships as the Paladins also won the Southern Conference in 1969, 1972, 1976, 1977, 1986, 1987, 1990, 1991, 1992, 1993, 1994, and 1998.
The Paladins will compete in the 2001 Southern Conference men's tennis tournament next weekend in Charleston, S.C. Furman will be seeking its 11th SoCon tournament title. Furman head coach Paul Scarpa currently holds a career record of 697-422 and could become only the third active coach to reach 700 career victories with a SoCon Tournament title.
Furman 6, Georgia Southern 1
April 13, 2001
Singles Results
1. Ryan OšKeefe (GSU) def. Lee Nickell (Furman) 6-2, 7-6
2. James Cameron (Furman) def. Wojciach Nowak (GSU) 4-6, 6-3, 6-2
3. John Chesworth (Furman) def. Florian Scheidat (GSU) 6-0, 6-0
4. Chris Henderson (Furman) def. Darren Clark (GSU) 6-1, 6-3
5. Eric Ward (Furman) def. Uli Ebersperger (GSU) 6-3, 6-0
6. Patrick Fillnow (Furman) def. Alex Franqui (GSU) 6-2, 6-2
Doubles Results
1. Cameron-Chesworth (Furman) def. OšKeefe-Scheidat (GSU) 8-4
2. Nowak-Clark (GSU) def. Fillnow-Andrew Rogers (Furman) 8-2
3. Henderson-Charlie Lloyd (Furman) def. Ebersperger-Franqui (GSU) 8-2