And then there was one.

Furman claimed the Southern Conference regular-season title in women’s tennis with a 5-2 victory over East Tennessee State, previously the only other undefeated team in league play.

The Paladins (18-3, 7-0 SoCon) earned the No. 1 seed in next weekend’s league tournament.  Furman, which won its 27th regular-season title, plays No. 8 UNCG Thursday at 1 p.m. in the opening round of the conference championships, at Champions Club in Chattanooga, Tenn.

ETSU (12-8, 6-1) is the No. 2 seed.

The Paladins claimed two doubles wins to take the first point.  Senior Jess Dawson and sophomore Macy Hitchcock trounced Julia Millan and Jana Rovira, 6-1, at flight two, but the Bucs evened the slate as Alessandra Caceres and Daniela Rivera topped seniors Ellie Schulson and Sara Snyder, 6-3, at number one.  In the decisive number three contest, seniors Alexa Griffith and Grave Thomas held off Ralitsa Alexandrova and Ksenija Rage, 6-3, for the point.

Senior Marissa Pennings entered the singles lineup at flight three, where she blew past Rovira, 6-2, 6-1, to push the Paladin advantage to 2-0, but ETSU tied the match with victories at flights one and two.  Caceres slipped past Dawson, 6-4, 6-4, at number two, then Rivera topped Snyder, 6-2, 7-5, in the flight one contest. 

Furman won the remaining singles matches for the victory.  Hitchcock defeated Alexandrova, 6-3, 6-2, at number five, before Schulson clinched the match with a 6-3, 6-4 win over Millan at flight four.  At flight six, Thomas came from behind for a 4-6, 6-4, 1-0( 10-4) triumph over Rage.

Lacrosse set a school record for points in a game Saturday afternoon as the Paladins remained undefeated at Paladin Stadium with a 23-10 victory over the Longwood Lancers in Big South Conference action.
Furman moves its record to 9-3 overall and 3-1 in the Big South. With the loss, Longwood drops to 1-11 on the season and 1-4 in conference play.
Sofija Buzelis had a career afternoon to pace Furman offensively after setting new career highs in points, goals and draws. The senior from Willowbrook, Ill., led the Paladins with nine points on seven goals and two assists.

Her career best 14 draws are the second-most in a game in program history, falling one shy of Meagan Beal’s 15 against Wofford on March 30, 2022.
Anna Roser and Lily Toole, the reigning Big South Offensive Player of the Week, both compiled eight points.
Goalies Madigan Brewer and Sailor Henderson combined for six saves and one ground ball.
Alexandra Hirst led the Lancers with five points on three assists and two goals, and Jordan Fitzgerald scored a team best-three goals. Goalie Cybella Smith totaled three saves.
The Paladins are back on Wednesday versus Presbyterian at 7 p.m.

Freshmen Tripp Roemer and Joe Womack notched fourth-place finishes in the 800 and 400 meters, respectively, to lead the Furman men’s track and field teams Saturday in the final day of the Asheville Bulldog Invite at the Karl Straus Track in Asheville, N.C., while freshmen Delaney Vickers and Claire Cook paced the Paladin women in the 800 at the Duke Invitational at Morris Williams Stadium in Durham, N.C.

Roemer, a native of Shreveport, La., crossed the line in 1:55.74 in the 800m, while Womack, who hails from Cartersville, Ga., posted a time of 49.51 in the 400m.  

At Duke, Vickers and Cook competed in the 800m.  Vickers finished 31st with a time of 2:12.34, and Cook was 34th at 2:13.02. 

Men’s tennis rallied back with four singles victories Saturday afternoon to secure a 4-3 Southern Conference win over Wofford Terriers in its regular season finale at Reeves Tennis Center.
Furman, which improves to 46-2 all-time against the Terriers, concludes the regular season with a 7-14 overall record and 3-4 mark in the SoCon. With the loss, Wofford drops to 6-12 on the year and 1-6 in conference play.
The Paladins won four singles matches at Nos. 1, 4, 5 and 6 to secure the victory.
The win gives Furman the No. 5 seed in next week’s SoCon Men’s Tennis Championship. The Paladins are scheduled to face fourth-seeded Chattanooga on Thursday, April 17 at 8:30 a.m. at the Champions Club in Chattanooga, Tenn.

Pepsi Stadium was unkind to homestanding Furman as Chattanooga swept a three-game weekend softball series, 7-0, 9-0 and 9-0.

The punchless Paladins had only three its in the first game of a Saturday doubleheader, two in game two and one on Sunday afternoon.

Furman (13-29, 3-9) travels to Birmingham, Ala., to open a three-game SoCon series versus Samford on Friday.

The Furman competitive cheerleading team recorded a 10^th-place performance in the Intermediate All Girl Division I at the 2025 NCA College Nationals in Daytona Beach, Fla.
The Paladins recorded a final event score of 88.7778 on Friday to finish 10^th out of 28 teams. Northeastern compiled the top score in the preliminaries and finished first ahead of California Baptist with a final-event score of 94.3055. The top five also consisted of Saint Joseph’s (93.0024), Mercer (92.0926), and Tennessee State (91.8565).

The Masters is much a movie as it is a sporting event. It is a whodunit, a dark comedy, a suspense thriller and, occasionally, accessorized with stunts and sci-fi.

And terror. I seem to remember seeing a recent trailer about a group of young people invited into a murderous wonderland, which is an apt description of Augusta National.

I was surprised that Bryson De Chambeau faded but not that Rory McIlroy mainly had to defeat himself. Everyone who’s ever played golf has dealt with pressure, from the lowliest duffer to, well, McIlroy. It’s a shame Alfred Hitchcock didn’t live to direct the show.

Most of my books are available at Amazon and other bookseller sites.

What can I do to get you to sample my fiction? How about a cheap sample of short stories, Longer Songs? The stories all originated in songs I’ve written. It’s been a few years since I published it. Not too long ago, I read it – before that, I merely wrote it – and, amazingly, I still thought it was pretty good. Remember, most people don’t write crap on purpose.