Men's Tennis | 5/1/2021 6:59:00 PM
CHARLESTON, W.Va. – The West Liberty University men's tennis team dropped a 4-0 decision to regionally-ranked Charleston here Saturday in a Mountain East Conference Tournament semifinal at the Schoenbaum Courts.
Coach Ronnie Hulewicz's No. 4-seeded Hilltoppers lost the doubles point when the top-seeded Golden Eagles rolled to convincing wins at the No. 1 and No. 3 doubles spots. Charleston then closed out the match with straight-set wins at No. 1, No. 5 and No. 6 singles.
Despite the lop-sided final score, the match was anything but a walk-over for the undefeated regular season champions.
West Liberty's No. 2 doubles tandem of Isfan Makhumudov and
Daisuke Aota had opened up a 4-2 lead in their match against UC's Fanda Pirek and Lennert Stevens when the match was stopped.
Gianluca Gerndt, a second-team All-MEC selection for the Hilltoppers earlier this week, had bounced back from a 6-0 loss to Pirek in the opening set of their No. 3 singles match with a 6-3 win in the second set when the match was halted.
Charleston and West Virginia Wesleyan will meet in Sunday's MEC Tournament final. The No. 2 seed Bobcats defeated No. 3 seed Fairmont State, 4-1, in Saturday's other semifinal.
MEN'S TENNIS
Mountain East Conference Tournament
(at Charleston, W.Va.)
Semifinal Round
No. 1 Charleston 4, No. 4 West Liberty 0
Doubles
#1 Giesberts/Dagostine (UC) d. Roehner/Schulz, 6-2
#2 Makhumudov/Aota (WLU) vs. Pirek/Stevens, 4-2 – DNF
#3 Magill/Patel (UC) d. Gerndt/Jones, 6-1
Singles
#1 John Giesberts (UC) d. Isfan Makhumudov, 6-1 6-2
#2 Drew Dagostine (UC) vs.
Anton Schulz, 6-4 3-1 – DNF
#3 Fanda Pirek (UC) vs.
Gianluca Gerndt, 6-0 3-6 – DNF
#4 Jake Magill (UC) vs. Daisuke Aoka, 6-3 3-1 – DNF
#5 Krish Patel (UC) d.
Derek Roehner, 6-1 6-1
#6 Alex Martinez (UC) d.
Zarion Jones, 6-2 6-0
