MARION, Ind. - In their last regular season matches of the season, both Goshen tennis teams won on the road at Indiana Wesleyan - the first road win for the GC women at IWU since 1979. Playing to clinch, the men won 4-2 and the women won 4-1. The Indiana Wesleyan women are ranked #20.
Women - (RV) Goshen 4, #20 Indiana Wesleyan 1
Indiana Wesleyan had won the last 37 meetings between the two schools. Goshen's last win was on September 9, 1991 in Goshen. Their last win in Marion was back when the school went by the Marion College Titans. Goshen had won that match 8-1.
This time around, the teams played indoors due to weather and until a team clinched the four points. Goshen needed just five singles matches to get there.
Vishmi Serasinghe's 2-6, 6-4, 6-4 comeback win at #4 singles ensured that she finished with an undefeated regular season Crossroads League singles record, going 9-0. She started the season 4-5 in singles but is now 14-5.
Sara Nino picked up an eighth straight singles win with a dominant 6-1, 6-1 victory at #6 singles. She leads the team with 20 singles wins this year.
Maria Clara Fonte's 6-3, 6-3 win at #3 singles is her seventh straight singles win, as she improves her record to 17-7 this season. Goshen's remaining point came from
Blanka Bodo at #2 singles, winning easily 6-1, 6-1. Bodo was 6-2 in league singles play. When the teams faced off last season, the Wildcats won 6-1.
Men - #23 Goshen 4, Indiana Wesleyan 2
The men earned a second straight win over IWU. GC took the doubles point, winning with
Timo Novak and
Mahmut Gumeric at #2 doubles 6-1, and with
Filippo Gallo and
Paulo Santiago at #3 doubles with a 6-0 score. #1 doubles went unfinished once the point had already been clinched. In league doubles action, Gumeric is 4-0, Novak is 5-3, Gallo is 7-1 and Santiago is 8-1.
Garrett Stoltzfus had a 6-1, 7-5 win at #3 singles and finished 8-1 in league play with his only loss against Huntington.
Paulo Santiago also had a straight sets win - 6-2, 6-2 at #6 singles.
Iago Ciucio's match at #2 singles took a little more effort to get the win. He defeated Michail Klinkov 3-6, 6-4, 6-3.
The men (12-8, 7-2 CL) will be the three seed in the Crossroads League tournament. The women (13-6, 8-1 CL) earned the two seed with their win over the Wildcats - who were also 7-1 going into the matchup. Both Goshen teams, as top four seeds, will host their Crossroads League Quarterfinals matches on Monday, April 20. The semifinals will be on Wednesday, April 22 with the championship on Friday, April 24. The semifinals and championship will be hosted at Indiana Wesleyan.
