The Pilot
Thursday. Marcb-25. 2010
Sports
Men’s tennis fall by narrowest of margins
Evgeny Slesarev goes for a shot during a match,
by Blake DuDonis
Pilot Editor-In-Chief
Following a 5-2 loss to USC-Upstate, the men’s
tennis team of Gardner-Webb looked to get back
on track at home against Appalachian State last
Wednesday. Unfortunately for the Dawgs, a win was
not to found on this day as the team fell 4-3.
In doubles, Evgeny Slesarev and Rafael Atmayer
teamed up at the number one spot to defeat the
Mountaineer duo of Trent Constance and Peter
Jacobs 8-6. Meanwhile, Andrew Veeder and Roman
Piftor fell 8-4 in a tough match at the number two
spot.
ASU’s Ezekiel Sansing and Andrew McKinnonn
secured the final doubles match to give the
Mountaineers the doubles point.
During the singles match ups, Slesarev again
found himself victorious over Constance, winning
7-6, 6-2. Veeder then fell at the two spot to Jacobs
7-5, 7-5 in a match not absent of some controversy
over calls. The two also held back no emotions as
Photo by Tyler Kucifer
yells of “Come on!” could be heard throughout the
match.
Atmayer found himself in a close match as well,
but ultimately fell 5-7, 6-3, 6-1. GWU newcomer
Adam Knuttson-Sunblad then fell at the four spot,
6-2, 6-1, The loss secured a win for ASU but Roman
Piftor and Jeremie Tardiff finished, strong for the .
Dawgs, each winning their respective matches.
The loss brings the Dawgs to 4-8 on the year, as
the team will travel to Georgia State on Saturday
and then Campbell on Monday.
Gardner-Webb wrestler makes history
by Blake DuDonis
Pilot Editor-In-Chief
Gardner-Webb rcdshirt-senior Dustin Porter made
Bulldog history on Saturday night, as the Bulldogs
finished second overall as a team at the 2010 NCAA
East Regionals with a score of 74.50.
Gardner-Webb, which had one champion, two
runner ups and five third-place finishes, placed behind
Liberty in the team scores, as the Flames scored a total
of 110.50 points over the regional meet.
GWU heavyweight Dustin Porter advanced to the
championship bout of the heavyweight division, as he
picked up a pin fall at 2:07 over Charles Godfrey of
Millersville in his first match of the day. Porter made
history in the next match, defeating Joshua Pelletier
of Liberty 5-2 in the championship match to claim his
fourth straight East Regional Championship.
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Opinion
A welcome
change to the
athletic landscape
by Blake DuDonis
Pilot Editor-in-Chief
After 14 years and over 200 losses, Gardner-Webb
made a much-needed move: firing men’s basketball
coach Rick Scruggs.
Let me first say that I respect Coach Scruggs and ev
erything that he has done for the program, but plain and
simple, his time was over. Scruggs was a man who was a
great coach; at any school that was not Division I.
After defeating college basketball powerhouse Ken
tucky in '2007, Scruggs and the whole Gardner-Webb
community celebrated the win; and rightfully so.
The issue, however, is what happened after that.
The win was a chance to build the program on and rise
to the level of other mid-major schools like Dayton,
Rhode Island and Richmond to name a few.
Instead, we just celebrated. We did not take the op
portunity to use it as a foundation of a new program.
Instead, we just noted it as a great win and that was all.
This season, Scruggs clearly had no chemistry with
his players and, quite frankly, seemed clueless. Play
ers like Grayson Flittner, who two years agohad con
siderable playing time would go games without seeing
significant minutes while other young players, who
clearly showed time and time again that they were not
ready to perform on the Division I level, cost us game
after game;
Of the eight wins this season, three were against
Division III or NAIA schools, and the other five were
against the worst teams in the conference.
But after the heartache of watching a team that was
struggling to be competitive, we are finally going to
get a new coach. But who? ’
Although the school will not comment on who they
are looking at, which is standard for most schools, a
few names have leaked through and I assure you they
are good ones. ,
Assistants from several SEC schools CVandy and
Mississippi State) as well as a team in the sweet six
teen (Michigan State), have been mentioned.
Also, an assistant from UNCC that was recently fired
as the school parted ways with Bobby Lutz is in the mix.
It should be comforting that these coaches are not
simply putting in applications; Jay Bilas (ESPN Ana
lyst and former Duke player), John Calipari (Kentucky
head coach), Tom Izzo (Michigan State head coach)
and Gary Williams (Maryland head coach) have all
called to recommend these guys.
After many ups and downs, Gardner-Webb is final
ly making a commitment to excellence and refusing to
settle for complacency. It’s about time.