BOX SCORE

HILTON HEAD, S.C. (March 8, 2017) – The Drew University men's tennis opened up its four-match Southern stint with a split, defeating Ohio Northern University 7-2 and falling to Eastern Nazarene College in the very last match, 5-4.
 
Junior Salikh Gilmutdinov and freshman Geoffrey Diehl were undefeated with 2-0 marks in both singles and doubles play. The Rangers' record now stands at 5-1.
 
Drew 7, Ohio Northern 2
The Rangers took a 2-1 lead in the dual match after doubles, with Gilmutdinov and sophomore Will Morrison winning 8-3 at No. 1 and Diehl and sophomore Vineet Vemulapally prevailing at the second spot, 8-4.
 
Drew proceeded to win 5-of-6 singles matches, led by Gilmutdinov's 6-1, 6-1 victory at No. 1 and Vemulapally's 6-1, 6-2 win at second single.
 
Diehl and sophomore Kevin Shulca won in straight sets at fourth and fifth singles, respectively before freshman Bryce Weizer finished it off at sixth singles in a retirement after winning the opening set in a tiebreaker, 7-3.
 
Eastern Nazarene 5, Drew 4
Drew again took the early 2-1 lead after doubles with Gilmutdinov/Morrison going over their No. 1 doubles opponents 8-6, and Diehl/Vemulapally winning 8-4 at second doubles.
 
Gilmutdinov started off singles play with a 6-3, 6-3 win at the top spot, finishing his perfect start to the South Carolina trip and upping his singles record to 6-1 this season.
 
Diehl took the team lead in singles wins this season at 8-1 with his three-set superbreaker victory in fourth singles, 6-2, 2-6, 1-0 (10-6).
 
Up Next
The Rangers continue their Southern swing on Thursday, March 9 against Thomas More at 3:00 p.m.