Men's Tennis | 4/8/2018 11:33:00 AM

    WEST LIBERTY, W.Va. – The West Liberty University men's tennis team couldn't get anything going in singles action here Saturday and dropped an 8-1 decision to regionally-ranked Charleston at the Edgar Martin Tennis Complex.
    It was the first Mountain East Conference loss of the season for Coach Sam McCullough's Hilltoppers (6-5, 2-1) while the Golden Eagles (10-5, 4-2) – who checked in at No. 5 in this week's NCAA Division II Atlantic Region rankings – picked up their fifth win in the last seven matches.
    West Liberty got a quality win from No. 3 doubles tandem Vincent Huynh and Luke Flanagan to  trail just 2-1 heading into singles play but that turned out to be the only point of the day for the hosts as Charleston picked up straight-set wins in four of the six singles matches to lock up the decision.
    The Hilltoppers didn't go down without a fight.
    Daniel Nogareda rebounded from a 6-1 loss in the first set of his No. 2 singles match against Jo Taylor to force a third and deciding set but a key service break allowed Taylor to pull out a 6-4 nod.
    Hayden Blazer rolled to a 6-1 win in the first set of his No. 6 singles match against Elliott LePetit but the Golden Eagle netter squared the match with a 6-4 win in the second set and closed things out with a 10-6 verdict in the tiebreaker.
    The Hilltoppers face another challenge on Monday when they hit the road to face another regionally-ranked team in No. 6 Fairmont State. That match is set for a 4 p.m. start.
  Ben Lakeman (UC) d. Camilo Moncayo, 6-2 6-3
Jo Taylor (UC) d. Daniel Nogareda, 6-1 2-6 6-4
Tom Andrews (UC) d. Nick Liddy, 6-2 6-3
Alek Gracin (UC) d. Vincent Huynh, 6-2 6-3
J. Prince (UC) d. Matt Lynch, 6-4 6-0
Elliott LePetit (UC) d. Hayden Blazer, 1-6 6-4 10-6 Lakeman/Taylor (UC) d. Moncayo/Nogareda 8-2
Gracin/Prince (UC) d. Liddy/Lynch, 8-4
Huynh/Luke Flanagan (WLU) d. Andrews/LePetit, 8-5