SALISBURY, Md. - The No. 29 Salisbury
University men's tennis team posted its seventh shutout this season
on Monday evening at the SU Indoor Tennis Center in the semifinal
round of the Capital Athletic Conference tournament. SU defeated
third-seed York (Pa.) College, 9-0, for the second time this season
to advance to the conference championship match.
Salisbury (14-6), ranked No. 7 in the Atlantic South region,
will travel to Fredericksburg, Va., on Thursday, April 23, to face
top-seed University of Mary Washington at 4 p.m. The Eagles, ranked
No. 17 in the nation and fourth in the region, won easily over
fourth-seed Hood College, 9-0, in the other CAC semifinal on
Monday.
The Sea Gulls jumped out to an early 3-0 lead after doubles
play. Juniors Scott Burtzlaff and Evan
Thomas defeated York's top pair of Tim Mowrer and Joel
Trimmer, 8-5. Sophomore Andrew Nottage and
freshman Daniel Barnas posted an 8-0 shutout at
second doubles over the Spartan duo of Colin Jones and Jeff
Mansfield. Junior Marcus Robinson and sophomore
David Lupinetti won 8-2 over Steve Collins and
Paul Graci to give SU the three-point lead heading into singles
play.
The first three pairs played first on the three indoor courts.
Thomas finished first as he blanked Graci 6-0, 6-0 at second
singles. Lupinetti was close behind with a 6-1, 6-1 victory over
Trimmer at third singles to clinch the win for the maroon and gold.
Burtzlaff finished off the first wave of singles play as he won
6-3, 6-3 over Mowrer at first singles. SU continued its dominance
in the final matches of the evening. Barnas won 6-0, 6-2 over
Collison at fourth singles while Nottage won 7-5, 6-1 at fifth
singles. SU senior Sasha Felikson played his final
home match of his career and won 6-4, 6-0 at sixth singles over
Travis Klein.
Salisbury's win gives Sea Gull coach Randy
Halfpap his 99th men's tennis victory at his Alma Mater.
Last week, Halfpap recorded his 100th women's tennis victory at SU.
The loss ended York's season and a six-match winning streak.
SU and UMW met during the regular-season back on April 4 in
Salisbury, Md., where the Eagles won 7-2. The last CAC championship
for SU came in 1999. Since then UMW has won every title this
decade. Salisbury has four total conference crowns to its credit
(1996-99).
