Men's Tennis | 4/15/2017 10:18:00 AM

SHEPHERDSTOWN, W.Va. – The West Liberty University men's tennis team clinched at least a share of the Mountain East Conference regular-season championship here Friday with a 9-0 shutout of Shepherd.
     It was the final MEC match of the season for Coach Sam McCullough's regionally-ranked Hilltoppers (12-5, 6-1), who have won 9 of their last 10 matches to hold down the No. 2 spot in the latest set of NCAA Division II Atlantic Region rankings.
     West Liberty had no trouble handing the Rams (9-6, 2-2) only their second MEC loss of the season. The Black and Gold lost a total of just four games in sweeping the three doubles matches before posting straight-set wins in all six singles matches to complete the sweep.
     The Hilltoppers are in a three-way battle with Fairmont State and West Virginia Wesleyan for the regular season title, which carries with it the No. 1 seed for next week's MEC Tournament.
     Fairmont (12-8, 5-1) can pull into a first-place tie by finishing off its MEC slate with a win on Saturday against Shepherd. Wesleyan (9-6, 3-1) hosts Charleston and UVa-Wise on Saturday before closing out its conference schedule against Shepherd on Monday.
     If Fairmont and/or Wesleyan also finish with 6-1 league marks, tiebreakers will be used to set the seeds for the MEC Tournament.
     West Liberty heads to Kutztown (Pa.) on Saturday for an 11 a.m. non-conference match.
    
MEN'S TENNIS
West Liberty 9, Shepherd 0
Singles
Baptiste Perrin (WLU) d. Carter Davis 7-6 (3), 6-3
Santiago Gutierrez (WLU) d. Grant Davis 6-2, 6-1
Matt Tully (WLU) d. Lewis Charette 6-0, 6-1
Camilo Moncayo (WLU) d. Kaleb Lochner 6-0, 6-0
Luke Flanagan (WLU) d. Austin Thomas 6-2, 6-4
Pablo Cimorra (WLU) d. Clay Smith 6-0, 6-0
Doubles
Perrin/Gutierrez (WLU) d. C.Davis/G.Davis, 8-2
Tully/Flanagan (WLU) d. Lochner/Thomas, 8-2
Cimorra/Moncayo (WLU) d. Charette/Smith, 8-0