Box Score
LaGrange, GA -- The Piedmont College men's tennis team completed a thrilling 5-4 victory over top-seeded Huntingdon College earlier this afternoon in the championship match of the 2011 Great South Athletic Conference tournament to claim their first league title since 2007. Head Coach
Shane Wood's first season back as the tennis coach at Piedmont ends the same way his last season at the helm of the successful program did - with a GSAC championship trophy in hand following a gutsy performance from his Lions on the court.
The match did not appear to be heading the Lions way in the early going as Huntingdon claimed wins at the #1 and #3 doubles slots to take a 2-0 advantage looking to make it 3-0 with a third doubles win at the #2 slot. However, the pair of
Andrew Babb and
Joel Silverberg made sure that would not be the case by fighting to a 9-8 tiebreak winner at the #2 doubles spot to put the score at 2-1 HC.
That doubles point proved to be vital down the stretch both on the scoreboard and in the minds of the Lions readying to take the court in singles action. Huntingdon did claim points at the #2 and #4 singles slots to push their margin to 4-1 with just a singles point to go for the clinching fifth decision.
However, Piedmont continued to battle staying in the contest with victories at the #5 and #6 singles slots from
Andrew Babb and
Jay Evans respectively. Babb claimed his second win of the GSAC tourney with his 6-4, 6-0 win at the #5 spot while Evans' win came 6-1, 6-2 to move his singles record on the year to an outstanding 11-4.
With the Lions now trailing just 4-3, their title hopes rested with the #2 singles battle where
Patrick Steck found himself trailing after the first set. However, the freshman rallied with the match on the line for a 1-6, 6-2, 7-5 tiebreak come-from-behind victory to deadlock the contest at four points a piece with the #1 singles slot still to be decided.
For Piedmont, the team's fate now rested on the raquet of two-time GSAC Player of the Year
Moses Das who had to go to tiebreaks in both of his first two sets. However, with the chance to hand his team a GSAC tournament title in his junior season, the seasoned vet responded to dominate set #3 with his 7-5, 5-7, 6-0 overall win - a singles win that clinched the 5-4 match victory for Piedmont and gave the Lions their first championship since the 2007 season.
Das was named the tournament MVP for his clinching victory at the #1 singles spot finishing the year at an unparrelled 6-1 against GSAC competition in 2011. For Piedmont Head Coach
Shane Wood, the GSAC men's tournament title is the skipper's uncanny eighth straight crown at the helm of the Lion tennis program as he also led the 2007 team to a championship prior to heading to NCAA Division-I Jacksonville University for a three-year stint.
Now back as the leader of the PC tennis programs, Wood helped guide his 2011 Lions to a five-match winning streak to end the year 11-6 overall returning the Lions to the championship podium once more.
