The Transylvania Men's Tennis team won a thrilling 5-4 match against Hanover College in the finals of
the HCAC tournament today at Top Seed Tennis Club. The win, which featured momentum swings and
close matches at nearly every position, gives the Pioneers an automatic bid to the NCAA tournament.
The doubles featured three tightly contested matches, with two coming down to tiebreaks to decide a
winner. Arjun Gupta and Chris Kaufmann started the scoring with an 8-5 win at #1. Jordan Cordrey and
Eli Skaggs finished next at #2, with an 8-7 win to give the Pioneers a 2-0 lead. The third doubles contest
also was decided in a tiebreak, with Jared Wells and Alejandro Perez Canedo dropping a tiebreak of their
own. Heading into the singles the second seeded Transy squad held a 2-1 lead over the top seeded
Panthers.
There were more close matches in the singles. Alejandro Perez Canedo struck first, polishing off a 6-1, 6-
0 win at #4 singles. Chris Kaufmann was the next to finish and his 6-4, 6-2 win put the Pioneers on the
brink of a team win. The drama was not over, however, as Hanover took a 7-5, 6-2 win at #5 over Jordan
Cordrey to close the gap to 4-2.
The remaining three matches all went to a deciding third set. Gupta fell at #2 singles 6-0, 6-0, 6-3 to
leave courts 3 and 6 still playing. All four of the participating players fought injuries, with all four
receiving a medical timeout during their final sets. Skaggs, who suffered a calf injury early in the third set
at #3, fought back from being down a break of serve in the final set to even it at 5-5. He was unable to
complete the comeback, however, and fell 6-4, 4-6, 7-5 to even the score and bring all eyes to court #6.
Wells had lost the first set 6-3 and evened the match at one set all with a 7-5 second set win. He held
match points at 5-4 and 6-5 in the third set, but was unable to convert and the final set went to a
tiebreak to decide the championship. Wells moved out quickly, building a 5-2 lead and needing only two
more points to secure the victory. Battling cramps, he lost four points in a row and faced a match point
against him at 6-5. A forehand volley winner evened the score at 6-6, and the players switched ends
with two points to decide the winner.
Serving at 6-6, Wells forced a return error with a first serve and earned a third match point. An 18 shot
rally at 7-6 ended with Wells driving an overhead winner through the court to clinch the match, and the
championship, for Transy.
Chris Kaufmann was named the Most Outstanding Player for the HCAC Tournament following the win. 

The Pioneers will learn their draw for the NCAA Championships Monday at 12:30 PM. The selection
show can be viewed at ncaa.com.