Men's Tennis | 2/11/2013 2:07:00 PM

ERIE, Pa. – The West Liberty University men's tennis team dropped a 5-4 decision to Edinboro here Saturday in a meeting of regionally-ranked squads.
    Coach Sam McCullough's Hilltoppers (3-1), No. 4 in the Intercollegiate Tennis Association rankings, swept all three doubles matches but only managed one singles victory as the host Fighting Scots (4-0), the region's No. 8-ranked team, remained unbeaten on the young season.
    West Liberty's top two doubles tandems – Ivan Irazabal and Raphael Machado at No. 1 and Vincius Guarda and Darren Liebenberg at No. 2 – each pulled out 9-8 wins in tiebreakers while the No. 3 doubles team of Guilherme Lima and Alex Hayden notched an 8-6 win.
    The Hilltoppers' luck didn't hold in singles competition, however, as Lima got West Liberty's only win at No. 5 singles. The verdict was decided at No. 4 singles where Liebenberg battled back to win the second set after an opening-set loss only to come up short in the tiebreaker.
    The Black and Gold head to Charleston on Friday for the two-day UC Invitational.
 
MEN'S TENNIS
Edinboro 5, West Liberty 4
Matias Aignasse (Edin) d. Ivan Irazabal, 6-2 6-1
Kevin Caldwell (Edin) d. Raphael Machado, 6-4 6-2
Amir Taleb (Edin) d. Vincius Guarda, 6-0 6-0
Kody Duncan (Edin) d. Darren Liebenberg, 6-4 4-6 7-6 (7-0)
Guilherme Lima (WLU) d. Colin Bandell, 6-3 7-6 (2-0)
Brandon Romain (Edin) d. Alex Hayden, 6-1 6-4
Doubles
Irazabal/Machado (WLU) d. Aignasse/Romain, 9-8 (2-0)
Guarda/Lima (WLU) d. Talab/James Cooper, 9-8 (2-0)
Liebenberg/Hayden (WLU) d. Caldwell/Raffaele Fusulan, 8-6