On April 14, the Guilford men’s tennis team walked away victorious from their match against Roanoke College with a final score of 5-4. It was the first time anyone currently on the team could remember beating Roanoke.The victory in the match against Roanoke raised Guilford’s Old Dominion Athletic Conference (ODAC) ranking from the number six position to number five. Prior to the game, Roanoke was ranked third place in the ODAC.

“The general feeling today was that we were playing the number three team and we probably won’t win, but we did win,” said the men’s tennis coach Art Tourez. “So now, the guys know. They got their confidence now.”

Guilford first-year Andre Arguimbau defeated Roanoke’s Matt Nadolny 6-3, winning the singles match that “closed out the points” as he put it, meaning that it decided Guilford’s overall win.

“But the standard was set in the doubles match,” Arguimbau said, indicating that the resulting team win was a collective effort.

For a team to win a tennis match the final score must add up to a total of nine points. Roanoke forfeited two points to Guilford before the game even began because they only brought five players with them to Greensboro.

“Even so, it wasn’t an easy win,” said Arguimbau.

With only five players, the Roanoke team was unable to compete in three doubles matches as is customary, so they only played two. Guilford’s number one and two players, seniors Will Mason-Deese and Alec Chase, paired up against Roanoke’s number one and two, Jon Roy and James Lee, and lost 5-8. The number three and four players of each team played on the adjacent court. In the second doubles match, Guilford’s Arguimbau and first-year Mark Cheong defeated Roanoke’s Matt Nadolny and Ralph Migliarese 8-4.

Guilford also won their two matches prior to the April 14 game. In the April 11 match against Randolph College, Guilford won 9-0 and in the April 10 match against Lynchburg College, Guilford won 6-3.

The match against Roanoke was a critical one in determining the lineup of teams that will compete in the ODAC tournament.

“We started (the season) against some really tough teams and had some difficult matches, and we’re now getting into some conference matches where we have a reasonable likelihood of winning,” said Tourez.

The match against Roanoke put Guilford’s total for the season at 4-3 with two more matches to go before the conference tournament.

“If we win both (matches) we have a good chance to be fourth or fifth in the conference going into the tournament,” said Tourez. “We have an excellent chance to win the first round in the conference and hopefully go on to the semis and do our best.”

Guilford has since played out those two remaining matches. On Saturday, April 17, Guilford lost to Emory & Henry College 4-5, and on Sunday, April 18, Guilford defeated Randolph-Macon College 9-0, leaving the men’s team 5-4 going into the tournament.

Tourez expressed some of the goals he has for the men’s tennis team in the ODAC tournament.

“As a team I feel it’s very important for us to, as a minimum, get to the second round,” said Tourez. “We really don’t want to go in one and done. We’d like to go in and say we didn’t just make it to the conference, we made an impact on the conference.