By Sammy Clough, Columnist
Furman tennis is rolling. As the Southern Conference tournament fastly approaches on April 21, both the men’s and women’s tennis teams look poised and ready to make deep runs into the tournament.
After winning 11 straight matches, the women’s tennis team looks to face East Tennessee State on Saturday in a conference showdown of undefeated records. The Paladin women are a perfect 5-0 in conference play up to this point, and boast a dominant overall record of 18-5.
Their current win streak dates back to a 6-1 rout of USC Upstate at home on Feb. 25. Since then, the women have seen commanding victories over conference rivals Wofford, Mercer, UNCG, Samford and Chattanooga in which Furman has an overall record of 32-3 over their opponents.
With only two matches left in the season, the Sat., April 8 matchup with ETSU is ever important.
Furman has dominated this series over ETSU, holding a 26-1 record after beating ETSU in Johnson City last year for a dramatic 4-3 victory.
The Paladin women will rely heavily on Senior star Ansley Speaks. Speaks, the SoCon Player of the Month for March, was a perfect 17-0 in all competition throughout the month. She went 9-0 in the number one singles spot and continued by going 8-0 in number one doubles with junior Aryn Greene.
Speaks will play both number one singles and doubles against ETSU.
The Paladin men boast an impressive season as well.
With an undefeated record at home, and only one conference loss this season, the men’s team stares the upcoming SoCon tournament in the face with only two matches remaining in the season.
Senior Adam Steryous has plowed over the competition as of late, leading him to receive Southern Conference Player of the Month honors for the second consecutive month. Steryous posted a 13-1 overall record in the month of March and in impressive fashion won all four of his conference singles matches in straight sets.
After coming off their first conference loss of the season at the hands of ETSU Sun., April 2 the men bounced back with a dominating home victory in a 7-0 trouncing of University of North Carolina Greensboro.
The men close the season at home with a match against Georgia State on Fri., April 14.
With two potential wins to finish the season, the Paladins, along with ETSU, are vying for the top spot in the Southern Conference tournament.
Both the men’s and women’s tournaments begin on Fri., April 21, as the Paladins try to take their momentum from a remarkable regular season into postseason play.
