Buckhannon, W.Va. – Davis & Elkins snapped a four-match losing skid with a 4-3 win over visiting Salem University here Sunday afternoon in men's tennis action. Anthony Martins clinched the team win with a 6-2, 2-6, 10-4 victory at #5 singles. His heroics followed wins by Kyle Hawthorne and Vini Azeredo as D&E raises their record to 4-7 on the year overall. Five of those losses are to teams with national rankings, and the win also keeps the Senators in a the hunt for an NCAA regional spot.
 
The Senators captured the doubles point after coming back from a break down in both the 2^nd and 3^rd positions to take the early lead going into singles. Duarte Correia and Hawthorne trailed 3-4 in their #2 line match before rattling off the final three games to seal the team point. D&E's Julian Tamburini and Azeredo also fell behind 3-4 and a break down before turning the same trick at the #3 position for the team's first win.
 
"Our doubles play has been improving steadily, and the fact that we played different combinations today is an indicator of how well the guys are buying in," said coach Mark Walters. "The idea that we went down a break in both the matches we won is a testament to how the guys are maturing out there and dealing with some adversity."  
 
Walters especially enjoyed the play of seniors Hawthorne and Azeredo, who were key to the scoring for the Senators.
 
"Vini (Azeredo) has struggled at times this spring and just now starting to find his competitive groove," noted Walters. "And Kyle Hawthorne just dominated his match from start to finish which was key to helping us keep the momentum today. It was a nice day for the seniors, and a win we needed to help get our confidences back."
 
Azeredo split sets in his #3 singles match and led the super tiebreak 9-2 before watching SU's Guillen close to within a point at 9-8. With the match still on his racquet, Azeredo served and volleyed to forge a quick exchange in the frontcourt and came out a winner when his opponent dropped a low volley into the bottom of the net.
 
Hawthorne's win at #6 was much more workmanlike, storming out to take the first set 6-0 over SU's Tomas Acuna, and then closing it out with a 6-3 margin in the second. At 6'5" and a booming serve working for him, Hawthorne was not broken on serve all day in either of his singles or doubles matches.
 
"We have some players out with assorted issues and the rest of the guys stepped up", said Walters. "Hopefully, we can get everyone back healthy and then turn on the jets for the second half of the spring for conference play. In the meantime, it is great to see the way the team responded despite the tough schedule and opposition the past two weeks."