Men's Tennis | 5/4/2015 5:51:00 PM
WEST LIBERTY, W.Va. – Mercyhurst's Travis Beck pulled out a tiebreaker win in the third set of his No. 2 singles match with West Liberty's Santiago Gutierrez Monday afternoon to give the Lakers a 5-4 win in the Atlantic Region II final at the Edgar Martin Tennis Complex. The loss snapped a 13-match winning streak for Coach Sam McCullough's No. 2-seeded Hilltoppers (20-3), who were hoping to avenge a 7-2 loss to Mercyhurst (15-6) during the regular season. West Liberty got the afternoon off to a good start, winning two of the three doubles matches to take a 2-1 lead into singles play.
Perrin and Moncayo moved the hosts within a win of their first regional title with straight-set wins at No. 3 and No 4 singles, respectively, but the Lakers stayed alive with straight-set wins by Conor McCooey at No. 5 singles and Ross Molinaro at No. 6 singles.
Terzic outlasted West Liberty's Andy Ponder, 6-1 6-4, at No. 1 singles to square the match at 4-4 and all eyes turned to the action in what would be the decisive match at No. 2 singles.
Beck had grabbed an early upper hand with a tiebreaker win in the first set but Gutierrez battled back with a 6-4 win in the second set to even the match.
The marathon continued in the third set with the players battling to a 6-6 draw after more than two hours of action, sending the match into a tiebreaker. Beck won the tiebreaker, 7-4, sending Mercyhurst to the NCAA Division II Round of 16 for the first time in school history.
The Lakers will take on No. 29 Cameron (Okla.) in their Round of 16 debut on May 13 at the Surprise Tennis and Racquet Club in Surprise, Ariz. Cameron knocked off No. 12 Midwestern State (Texas) in Sunday's South Central Region title tilt to earn its third straight "Sweet 16" trip.
MEN'S TENNIS
NCAA Division II Tournament
Atlantic Region II
(at West Liberty, W.Va.)
Final
#6 Mercyhurst 5, #2 West Liberty 4
Doubles
Singles
1. Nenad Terzic (Mercy) d. Andy Ponder (WLU) 6-1, 6-4
5. Conor McCooey (Mercy) d. Matt Tully (WLU) 6-3, 6-2
