Men's Tennis | 4/19/2015 7:13:00 PM
CHARLESTON, W.Va. – The West Liberty University men's tennis team romped past West Virginia Wesleyan, 5-2, here Sunday afternoon in the championship match of the Mountain East Conference Tournament at the Charleston Indoor Center.
Head coach Sam McCullough – the MEC Coach of the Year – could only smile as he watched his regular-season champion Hilltoppers (19-2) roll to their 12th consecutive win in impressive fashion. West Liberty jumped out quickly with wins at No. 1 and No. 2 doubles to take a 2-1 lead into singles play. Andrew Ponder and Santiago Gutierrez handled Wesleyan's Joel Izquierdo and Aitor Reparaz by an 8-5 count at No. 1 doubles while the Hilltoppers Martin Moncayo and Baptiste Perrin – who hadn't lost an MEC doubles match all year – maintained that unblemished mark with an 8-2 rout of Douglas Oliveira and Andre Fernandes. West Liberty needed to win only three of the six singles matches to claim the MEC tourney title and it didn't take long for the Hilltoppers to get that done.
Pablo Cimorra got the ball rolling at No. 6 singles with a 6-2 6-2 win against Tim Stephens. Perrin notched a 7-5 6-2 victory against Ferran Berga at No. 3 singles and Ponder dispatched MEC Player of the Year Izquierdo in straight sets, 6-4 6-4, at No. 1 singles for the clincher. Ponder, a two-time first-team All-MEC pick, had to overcome a little adversity to get the win.
After winning the opening set, Ponder was up 5-4 and serving for the match in the second set when he was hit by cramps. The gritty sophomore lost two of the first three points in the game to go down 15-30 but came from behind to serve out the match and ignite the celebration.
Listed at No. 2 in last week's NCAA Division II Atlantic Region rankings, Coach McCullough and his MEC champs are expected to receive an at-large bid to the NCAA Division II Atlantic Regional tournament later this month.
MEN'S TENNIS
MEC Tournament
Championship
West Liberty 5, W.Va. Wesleyan 2
Doubles
#3 Nathan Savill/Jacabo Rendon (WVW) d. Matt Tully/Pablo Cimora (WLU), 8-6 Singles
#5 Aitor Reparaz (WVW) d. Matt Tully (WLU), 6-1, 6-0 #6 Pablo Cimora (WLU) d. Tim Stephens (WVW), 6-2, 6-2
