Men's Tennis | 3/26/2017 1:16:00 PM

EDINBORO, Pa. – The West Liberty University men's tennis team rallied to a 5-4 victory against Edinboro Saturday night in a 5 1/2-hour marathon at the Westwood Racquet Club.
    Coach Sam McCullough's Hilltoppers (4-4), who slotted in at No. 6 in the latest ITA Atlantic Region rankings, found themselves on the short end of a 2-1 tally heading into singles play after the No. 5-ranked Fighting Scots (9-5) had pulled out close wins in two of the three doubles matches.
    Pablo Cimorra and Camilo Moncayo claimed an 8-5 victory at No. 3 doubles for WLU. Moncayo and Cimorra followed that up with straight-set wins at No. 5 and No. 6 singles, respectively, and Santiago Gutierrez rolled to a 6-3 6-2 nod at No. 4 singles to keep the visitors in the match.
    Edinboro picked up victories at No. 1 and No. 3 singles to forge a 4-4 deadlock and all eyes turned to what would now be the decisive No. 2 singles match between West Liberty senior Andy Ponder and Fighting Scot standout Daniel Fernandez.
    Fernandez pulled out a 7-5 win in the opening set and had a chance to close out the match when the second set went to a tiebreaker only to see Ponder battle back to win the tiebreaker, squaring the match at one set each and forcing a third and deciding set.
    The clock ticked past midnight as the match drew to its conclusion but Ponder built on his momentum from that second-set tiebreaker to give West Liberty the win with a 6-4 decision in the third set.
    The Hilltoppers return to action Monday afternoon with a 3 p.m. match at West Virginia State.
   
MEN'S TENNIS
West Liberty 5, Edinboro 4
Singles
Vitor Albanese (Edin) d. Baptiste Perrin 6-4, 6-3
Andrew Ponder (WLU) d. Daniel Fernandez 5-7, 7-6 (4), 6-4
Mauricio Santos (Edin) d. Matt Tully 7-5, 6-0
Santiago Gutierrez (WLU) d. Mateus Santos 6-3, 6-2
Camilo Moncayo (WLU) d. Kevin Mboko 7-5, 6-3
Pablo Cimorra (WLU) d. Kolja Hein 6-3, 6-4
Doubles
Albanese/Mt.Santos (Edin) d. Perrin/Gutierrez 9-7
Fernandez/Mboko (Edin) d. Ponder/Tully 8-6
Cimorra/Moncayo (WLU) d. Mr.Santos/Alexander Anderson 8-5