College Men’s Tennis Result – Hampden-Sydney 5, Guilford 2

NORFOLK, Va. – Clark Cummings won a second-set tiebreaker at fourth singles to clinch Hampden-Sydney College’s 5-2 win over Guilford College in an Old Dominion Athletic Conference Men’s Tennis Tournament semifinal Saturday.

Hampden-Sydney (16-5), seeded third in the eight-team field, advanced to Sunday’s final versus top-seeded Washington and Lee University, which downed host Virginia Wesleyan University, 5-0.

Rain forced the contest indoors to the Folkes-Stevens Tennis Center at Old Dominion University and delayed the start by nearly two hours.

The Tigers grabbed a 2-1 lead after doubles play. Cummings and Grayson Burns cruised to an 8-0 win over the Quakers’ Jarad Gandy and Kai Glass at third doubles. Guilford’s Mason Robb and Elijah Gregory took out Hampden-Sydney’s William Driskill and Levy Young, 8-4. Hampden-Sydney’s Matthew and Michael Moody claimed a key point with an 8-4 win over Guilford’s Tate Godwin and Graham Pearson.

Young topped Gandy at fifth singles, 6-0, 6-1, for a 3-1 Tigers’ lead. Burns downed Glass, 6-4, 6-2, at sixth singles for a 4-1 Hampden-Sydney advantage. Robb’s 6-4, 6-0 second-singles win over Driskill got the Quakers to within 4-2.

Cummings won the first set of his match with Pearson, 6-3, but Pearson held a 5-4 lead in the second before Cummings rallied to force a tiebreaker. He went on for a 6-3, 7-6 (7-3) victory that clinched the Tigers’ trip to the title match.

Coach Dave McCain’s Quakers finished the season with a 13-5 record.