Men's Tennis | 4/22/2017 8:26:00 PM
HUNTINGTON, W.Va. – The No. 1-seeded West Liberty University men's tennis team was upset by No. 4 seed Charleston, 5-3, here Saturday afternoon in the semifinals of the Mountain East Conference Tournament at the Huntington Indoor Tennis Club.
Coach
Sam McCullough's two-time defending champion Hilltoppers suffered three heartbreaking losses in doubles action and were unable to battle all the way back in singles play against the Golden Eagles.
West Liberty's three doubles losses came by the slimmest of margins as all three matches were extended past regulation and two of them went to tiebreakers.
The Hilltoppers' No. 1 tandem of
Baptiste Perrin and
Santiago Gutierrez battled UC's top duo of Alec Foote and Dominick Centofanti to an 8-8 draw only to come up short in the tiebreaker.
Matt Tully and
Luke Flanagan locked horns with Charleston's Ben Lakeman and Alek Gracin at No. 2 doubles in another nailbiter that saw the Golden Eagle tandem pick up a late service break to pull out a 9-7 win.
The No. 3 doubles match also went down to the wire and beyond with WLU's
Pablo Cimorra and
Camilo Moncayo falling in another tiebreaker after battling to an 8-8 draw.
Trailing 3-0 heading into singles play, the Hilltoppers didn't go down quietly.
Perrin, Gutierrez and Tully all posted straight-set wins to keep West Liberty's hopes alive but UC countered with wins at No. 3 and No. 5 singles to close out the match.
The Hilltoppers, ranked No. 5 in the most recent set of NCAA Division II Atlantic Region rankings, hope to receive an at-large bid to the Atlantic Regional tournament, which is scheduled for April 29-30.
MEN'S TENNIS
Charleston 5, West Liberty 3
Singles
#1
Baptiste Perrin (WLU) d. Alec Foote 7-6 (1), 7-5
#2
Santiago Gutierrez (WLU) d. Ben Lakeman 6-4, 6-0
#3 Alek Gracin (UC) d.
Camilo Moncayo 6-7 (0), 6-3, 4-2 ret.
#4
Matt Tully (WLU) d. Dominick Centofanti 6-2, 6-4
#5 Jamie Gibson (UC) d.
Luke Flanagan 6-2, 6-2
Doubles
#1 Foote/Centofanti (UC) d. Perrin/Gutierrez 9-8 (10-2)
#2 Lakeman/Gracin (UC) d. Tully/Flanagan 9-7
#3 Humphrey/Prince (UC) d. Cimorra/Moncayo 9-8 (10-5)
