CEDARVILLE, Ohio – The West Liberty University men's tennis came out on the short end of a 6-1 tally against Cedarville (Ohio) here Saturday in a non-conference match at the Johnson-Murdoch Tennis Complex.
    The host Yellowjackets gained an early upper hand by taking two of the three doubles matches to earn the doubles point. Anton Schulz and Zarion Jones teamed up to give the Hilltoppers a 6-4 win at No. 3 doubles but Cedarville prevailed in the other two doubles matches to carry a 1-0 lead into singles play.
    Most of the singles matches were tightly contested with three of them going to three sets and/or tiebreakers. Unfortunately for the Black and Gold, only one of those matches broke their way.
    Gianluca Gerndt pulled out a win at No. 4 singles against the hosts' Timmy O'Brien Gerndt pulled out a 7-6 tiebreaker win in the opening set only to see O'Brien recover with a 6-4 win in the second set. Gerndt gutted out a 10-8 nod in the tiebreaker to give WLU its only point of the match.
    The Hilltoppers return to Mountain East Conference play on Wednesday when they host Davis & Elkins in a 3 p.m. match at the Edgar Martin Tennis Complex.
  Alex Totten (Ced) d. Isfandiyor Makhumudov, 6-2 6-7(5) 10-8
Toshi Watanabe (Ced) d. Anton Schulz, 6-2 2-6 6-1
Cole Moss (Ced) d. Daisuke Aota, 6-4 6-4
Gianluca Gerndt (WLU) d. Timmy O'Brien, 7-6(5) 4-6 10-8
Nathan Brumbaugh (Ced) d. Derek Roehner, 6-2 7-5
Philip Brumbaugh (Ced) d. Zarion Jones, 6-4 6-1 Totten/Watanabe (Ced) d. Roehner/Makhumudov, 6-1
Moss/O'Brien d. Aota/Gerndt, 6-0
Schulz/Jones (WLU) d. N.Brumbaugh/P.Brumbaugh, 6-4