WHEELING, W.Va. – The Davis & Elkins College Men's Tennis team saw its first competitive action of the year this weekend playing in the two-day Hilltopper Classic, a flighted tournament hosted at West Liberty University.
The biggest victory of the tournament came with
Tare Mariga's 6-4, 6-4 victory over Mercyhurst's Nenad Terzic. Mariga's win came against the No. 1 for Mercyhurst and the No. 4 ranked player in the Atlantic region.
In the semifinals, Mariga played No.2 ranked Atlantic region player Baptiste Pierren of West Liberty. The two played to a very tightly contested three-set match with Pierren edging Mariga 6-7(5), 6-2, 10-7.
Mariga partnered with
Jack Clifton for doubles action. The duo lost in doubles to Edinboro 8-4 in the first round and then lost again in the back draw to Bluefield State 8-5.
Clifton lost in his singles match to Edinboro's Mauricio Santos 6-3, 6-4
Tristram Spitsnaugle and
Jonathan Gainer had the only win in doubles action, winning the first round match against Tiffin 8-2. In the semifinals round the pairing fell to West Liberty 8-1.
Spitsnaugle lost his singles match to Mercyhurst's Arseniy Sklyarov 6-4, 6-4.
Other doubles action saw
Ivan Bonderanko and Matt Alexander lose in the first round to West Liberty 8-6. In the back draw, the group fell in the first round to Mercyhurst 8-4.
In singles action, Bonderanko lost to Edinboro's Mateus Santos 6-4, 7-6. Alexander lost to Edinboro's Daniel Fernandez 6-1, 6-0.
Cordel Bostic and
Jacob Bowman also played in doubles, falling to Charleston 8-6.
Bostic fell to West Virginia Wesleyan's Ferran Berga 6-1, 6-0.
"It was a good tournament to see what we have to work on and where we have improved," said head coach
Otis Cutshaw. "We will play all seven teams at some point in the spring in dual matches, so will get our chance to see our improvements first hand."
The Senators will head to the ITA Regional Championships in Indianapolis, Indiana next week. The tournament will be held from Thursday September 15 through Sunday, September 18.
