HARROGATE, Tenn. – The Lincoln Memorial University tennis programs collected both doubles points, and won all but one singles match while taking a pair of conference wins from Catawba in men's and women's tennis here Thursday afternoon. The teams played their matches simultaneously indoors and outdoors to utilize all of the campus courts, and LMU took advantage of the format to grab the momentum and keep it through the day against the Indians. The men (10-7, 4-2 SAC) won by a 7-0 score, while the women (14-4, 4-2 SAC) claimed a 6-1 win.
 
For the men, Thom Hermans continued his excellent singles play in SAC competition, winning his 4^th match at the top position and then teaming up with Nic Goslar for a victory at #3 doubles. Herman joined Luca Pavan, Fabian Sjokvist, and William Jonsson as double winners on the day, while Sebastian Colla and Franco Battaglino each added a singles point of their own. 
 
As for the No. 28 ranked women, LMU's top player Laura Jipescu rallied to pick up a singles win over CC's Veronika Poliakova 2-6, 7-5 (13-11), saving multiple match points in the battle of the day. LMU grabbed the early lead with doubles wins from Julia Valls and Valentina Ascarrunz at #2 and Samantha Hogan and Keana Moon at #3. Ascarrunz and Valls each won their singles in straight sets to join Amanda Dahlstrom, Kushi Khandoji, and Jipescu in earning points for the Lady Railsplitters. 
 
"Overall, it was a productive afternoon for our kids across the board," said head coach Mark Walters. "Coming off the Carson-Newman debacle Tuesday where we got throttled and had little to feel happy about, I was anxious to see how we would respond. This was a great sign that despite our mental and physical stress, we are capable of bouncing back to form even after a tough day."
 
Walters was particularly pleased with the play of Jipescu and Colla, who each captured their wins in tight matches with 10-point tiebreakers.
 
"Sebastian and Laura have each had a full plate, Laura with playing high in the lineup as a freshman and Sebastian coming off injuries and some tough luck,' said Walters. "They both had to get over their own confidence issues, and each came up with solid wins that certainly help them moving forward. That'll go a long way towards helping the team, too."
 
LMU is off Friday and Saturday before returning to the home courts Sunday for a double-header with SAC rival UVA Wise and a night cap with Midway University of Lexington, KY. The matches will also be LMU's senior day, celebrating the contributions of Railsplitters Fabian Sjokvist, Sebastian Colla, Julia Valls, Amanda Dahlstrom, Samantha Hogan, and Claudia Rodriguez. The UVA Wise match is set 1pm, and Midway to follow at 4pm at the LMU Indoor Tennis center.