RADFORD, Va. – After battling its way to the crucial doubles point, top-seeded Radford cruised in singles action as the Highlanders blanked Gardner-Webb 4-0 in the semifinals of the 2010 Big South Men's Tennis Championships Friday morning at the RU Tennis Courts.

Along with moving on to Championship Saturday for the fifth straight season, Radford head coach Mike Anderson recorded his 200th career coaching victory. The five-time Big South Coach of the Year is 200-121 (.623) in 14 years at the helm.

The Highlanders advance to their sixth title match in school history and will meet No. 2 Winthrop tomorrow at 1 p.m.

With the doubles portion tied at one match apiece, Radford's top duo of Ivan Salec and Thomas Dehaen rallied from a break down to edge Evgeny Slesarev and Rafael Altmayer, 9-8 (3) and give their club the early 1-0 advantage.

Along with running their winning streak to 13 straight, Salec and Dehaen improved to a conference-best 17-1 on the spring.

Prior to claiming the decisive doubles match, the Bulldogs' Andrew Veeder and Jeremie Tardif evened the competition with a 9-8 (6) decision of their own on court two.

Igor Ogrizek and Erik Finkenbrink put the Highlanders one win away from the team point with a convincing 8-3 victory at the final doubles position.

Senior Zack Watson extended Radford's lead to 2-0 with a convincing straight-set (6-0, 6-0) win over Tardif at the No. 5 singles position.

Shortly after Watson's blanking, Dehaen (6-1, 6-1) and Ogrizek (6-0, 6-2) clinched the match with impressive victories of their own on courts two and three, respectively.

The five-time Big South Regular Season Champs were up a set in two of the remaining three matches when the dual was decided.

Gardner-Webb vs Radford
4/23/2010 at Radford, Va.
(RU Tennis Courts)

Radford 4, Gardner-Webb 0

Singles competition
1. #80 SALEC, Ivan (RAD) vs. SLESAREV, Evgeny (GWUM) 6-2, 3-3, unfinished
2. DEHAEN, Thomas (RAD) def. VEEDER, Andrew (GWUM) 6-1, 6-1
3. OGRIZEK, Igor (RAD) def. ALTMAYER, Rafael (GWUM) 6-0, 6-2
4. BOSLET, Paul (RAD) vs. PIFTOR, Roman (GWUM) 5-7, unfinished
5. WATSON, Zack (RAD) def. TARDIF, Jeremie (GWUM) 6-0, 6-0
6. FINKENBRINK, Erik (RAD) vs. KNUTSSON-SUNDBLAD, A (GWUM) 6-2, 1-2, unfinished

Doubles competition
1. SALEC, Ivan/DEHAEN, Thomas (RAD) def. SLESAREV, Evgeny/ALTMAYER, Rafael (GWUM) 9-8 (7-3)
2. VEEDER, Andrew/TARDIF, Jeremie (GWUM) def. WATSON, Zack/BOSLET, Paul (RAD) 9-8 (8-6)
3. FINKENBRINK, Erik/OGRIZEK, Igor (RAD) def. KNUTSSON-SUNDBLAD, A/PIFTOR, Roman (GWUM) 8-3

Match Notes:
Gardner-Webb 12-14
Radford 12-10
Order of finish: Doubles (3,2,1); Singles (5,2,3)