Men's Tennis | 10/1/2019 2:42:00 PM

    CHARLESTON, W.Va. – Several members of Coach Ron Hulewicz's youthful West Liberty University men's tennis team made their presence felt over the weekend at the 2019 ITA Atlantic Region Championships.
    Freshman Florent Dulac rallied to a thrilling 2-6, 6-4 (10-8) win against West Virginia Wesleyan's Harry Simaioforidis in the first round of the A Singles draw. He then battled No. 1-seeded senior Cormac McCooey of Mercyhurst to the wire in the Round of 16 before falling in a tiebreaker, 6-4, 4-6 (10-7).
    Dulac teamed with sophomore Joris Gravoulet in the A Doubles draw to knock off Bluefield State's No. 4-seeded tandem of Tom Schmeita and Mohamed Belcora, 8-5, in the opener. The WLU duo fell to Wesleyan's Lukas Laipold and Thomas McIntosh, 8-4, in the quarterfinals.
    Also in the A Doubles draw, freshman Gianluca Gerndt and junior Anton Schulz blew out Mercyhurst's Sebastian Pardo and Kiran Richards, 8-3, in the first round before bowing out in the quarterfinals with an 8-3 setback against Bluefield State's Mohamed Khalil and Frederik Baumadsen.
    Yet another Hilltopper freshman, Zarion Jones, picked up back-to-back straight-set wins against a pair of Davis & Elkins players in the B Singles consolation bracket. Jones also teamed with fellow freshman Nick Millner to pick up a tiebreaker win, 7-6(6), against the West Virginia State tandem of Nick Fraley and Ryan Mullins in the B Doubles consolation bracket.
    The Hilltopper net squad hits the court again on Oct. 11 when they begin play in the Ashland (Ohio) Invitational.