Sports > February 28, 2008

By Alex Botoman | Staff writer

Powered by a revamped doubles lineup, the men’s tennis team preserved their unblemished home record with a 6-1 win over Louisville Feb. 23 at the Indoor Tennis Center. The Deacs improved to 7-2 in dual match play and 5-0 at home, while the Cardinals dropped to 8-2.

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Junior Carlos Salmon returns the ball during the match Feb. 23 against Louisville. Salmon and freshman Iain Atkinson played a doubles match and won 7-6. (Bryce Stallings/Old Gold & Black)

After losing the doubles point in each of their last five matches, Head Coach Jeff Zinn debuted a new doubles lineup.

Sophomore Steve Forman and partner junior Cory Parr, ranked No. 42, were bumped up from their No. 2 doubles slot to take on Louisville’s No. 23 ranked team of Austen Childs and Simon Childs at the No. 1 position.

Junior Carlos Salmon and freshman Iain Atkinson played together for the first time against David Simon and Viktor Maksimcuk at the No. 2 doubles position.

Freshman Jonathan Wolff made his doubles debut, partnering with senior Mariusz Adamski to take on Cardinals Pablo Calligari and Robert Rotaru at the No. 3 position.

At the No. 3 spot Wolff and Adamski showed instant chemistry as they broke Louisville at 4-3 and jumped out to a 6-3 lead.

The Deacs had the match on their racket, serving at 7-5, but Calligari and Rotaru stayed alive by breaking to bring the match to 7-6.

With the Cardinals serving, the Deacs finished off the match 8-6, to give the early advantage to Wake.

At the No. 1 position, Parr and Forman played a tight match against the higher ranked pair of Austen and Simon Childs.

The match stayed on serve through the first 13 games.

With the Deacs up 7-6, they got the break to win the match 8-6 and clinch the doubles point for Wake. Salmon and Atkinson tacked on a 7-6(4) win in a shortened match to complete the doubles sweep for the Deacons.

The singles would not start as well for Wake as they fell into early deficits across the board.

At the No. 2 position Forman fell into an early 4-1 hole against Simon Childs. Behind some strong serving, he rallied back to even the match at 4-4.

After picking up a break at 5-5, Forman held serve to take the set 7-5. He didn’t let up in the second set, winning it 6-4, extending his winning streak to a team high five matches and giving the Deacons a 2-0 lead.

Wolff turned in a strong performance for Wake at the No. 4 position against Louisville’s Maksimcuk.

He jumped out to an early lead and never looked back, posting a 6-4, 6-4 victory and extending Wake’s lead to 3-0.

Adamski faced a battle in the first set of No. 3 singles against Simon.

The set went to a tiebreaker that Adamski won to take the first set 7-6.

Simon was no match for Adamski in the second set as he coasted to a 6-2 win to take the match 7-6, 6-2 and clinch the victory for Wake Forest.

The No. 43 ranked Parr struggled against the Cardinal’s No. 40 ranked Austen Childs at the No. 1 position, losing 7-5, 6-3, and snapping a personal four match winning streak.

At No. 5 singles against Louisville’s Rotaru, sophomore Jason Morgenstern started out cold, dropping the first set 6-3 but found his groove in the second and third sets winning them 6-2, 6-2.

Atkinson added on the final point for the Deacons with a 7-6, 7-6 win over Calligari at the No. 6 position.

The Deacs take on Michigan and Davidson Mar. 1 at the Indoor Tennis Center before opening ACC play Mar. 5 at home against N.C. State.