HILTON HEAD, S.C. (March 11, 2010) -- It is likely that if you're a top tennis team in the Old Dominion Athletic Conference you're probably a threat to a good many strong teams outside the conference.
That notion was supported this week as the Emory & Henry men's tennis team swept its spring break competition in an easy stride and improved an already impressive win record to 10-2.
The men defeated non-conference teams from Heidelberg College (6-3), Penn State Behrend (7-2), Northwestern College (8-1) and Juniata College (9-0) -- all schools with strong tennis histories. In the process, the talents of many individual team members were highlighted.
Perhaps the most impressive performance came from first-year student Matt Nelson playing at No. 2. Nelson won all four of his single matches against more experienced players and joined up with Chip Wintringham to win all four No. 1 doubles matches.
Nelson dropped only eight singles games and seven doubles games. "Matt's performance was certainly spectacular and one of the most dominant performances in memory," said E&H head men's tennis coach Jim Barker.
Also impressive was Wintringham, playing at No. 1 singles. He also came away from the spring break competition undefeated in both singles and doubles, as did first-year student Ethan Brooks who played No. 5 singles. Brooks was paired with Adam Henderson, a first-year phenom, in doubles play.
Also playing for the Wasps were seniors Michael Rogers, who won two of four singles matches at No. 4, and Hunter Romano, who won two of four singles matches at No. 6.