Men's Tennis | 4/5/2017 10:06:00 AM

CHARLESTON, W.Va. – A short-handed West Liberty University men's tennis team gutted out an important 6-3 victory against the University of Charleston here Tuesday night at the Bolarsky Tennis Center.
     Playing without injured senior standout Andy Ponder, Coach Sam McCullough's Hilltoppers (7-4, 2-0) won two of the three doubles matches to gain an early upper hand.
     Baptiste Perrin and Santiago Gutierrez teamed up for an 8-3 win at No. 1 doubles while Camilo Moncayo and Pablo Cimorra cruised to an 8-2 victory at No. 3 doubles.
     The Golden Eagles (8-7, 2-2) battled back against the reshuffled WLU lineup to grab a brief lead with a pair of straight-set wins in singles play but Cimorra outlasted UC's Elliot Le Petit for a straight-set win at No. 6 singles, courtesy of a second-set tiebreaker.
     That meant the match would be decided by the results of the other three singles matches, which had all gone into a third set.
     Perrin put West Liberty ahead to stay with a 6-1 win in the third set of his No. 1 singles match against Charleston's Alec Foote before Gutierrez and Moncayo wrapped things up by prevailing in the third sets of their matches at No. 3 and No. 4 singles, respectively.
     The victory sets up a crucial meeting of the MEC unbeaten on Thursday when the two-time defending conference champion Hilltoppers host fast-rising Fairmont State (12-7, 4-0) in a 3 p.m. match at the Edgar Martin Tennis Complex.
 
MEN'S TENNIS
West Liberty 6, Charleston 3
Singles
Baptiste Perrin (WLU) d. Alec Foote 6-1, 5-7, 6-1
Ben Lakeman (UC) d. Matt Tully 6-1, 6-1
Santiago Gutierrez (WLU) d. Alek Gracin 5-7, 6-2, 6-3
Camilo Moncayo (WLU) d. Dominic Centofanti 2-6, 6-4, 6-2
Jamie Gibson (UC) d. Luke Flanagan 6-1, 6-3
Pablo Cimorra (WLU) d. Elliot Le Petit 6-4, 7-6
Doubles
Perrin/Gutierrez (WLU) d. Foote/Humphrey 8-3
Lakeman/Gracin (UC) d. Tully/Flanagan 8-3
Cimorra/Moncayo (WLU) d. Gibson/Prince 8-2