WOOSTER, Ohio – The West Liberty University men's tennis team got its spring season off to a flying start on Saturday, defeating the College of Wooster and Ashland (Ohio) by identical 4-3 scores.
    The early-season triangular event was hosted by the College of Wooster at the Aspen Racquet Club.
    Coach Ronnie Hulewicz's Hilltoppers took on the host Fighting Scots in the opening match and the issue wasn't decided until the final point of a tiebreaker in the final singles match.
    West Liberty took the doubles point with wins at No. 1 and No. 2 doubles by the duos of Anton Schulz and Nevio Dux and Daisuke Aota and Derek Roehner but Ashland battled back in singles play.
    The Fighting Scots eked out a tiebreaker win at No. 1 singles after posting straight-set victories at No. 5 and No. 6 singles. That squared the match at 3-3 with Schulz and Dux having breezed to straight-set wins in their respective singles matches.
    Isfandiyor Makhumudov delivered the clinching win for the Black and Gold at No. 3 singles, closing out Wooster's Alex Drewes in a second-set tiebreaker after taking the opening set by a 6-3 count.
    The Hilltoppers had to rally for their 4-3 win against Ashland as the Eagles took the doubles point with wins at the No. 1 and No. 3 spots to carry a 1-0 edge into singles action.
    Ashland took straight-set wins at No. 1 and No. 3 singles to put West Liberty's collective backs against the wall but the Hilltoppers didn't lose another match.
    Schulz (No. 2), Makhumudov (No. 4), Dux (No. 5) and Zarion Jones (No. 6) all posted straight-set nods to cap a successful afternoon for the WLU net squad.
    The West Liberty men will be idle for the next few weeks before opening their Mountain East Conference schedule on Feb. 26 with a 3 p.m. match against Frostburg State at the Wheeling Park "Bubble."
  1. Alon Liberman (Woos) d. Moritz Erpel (WLU) 4-6, 6-2, (11-9)
2. Anton Schulz (WLU) d. Austin Hanna (Woos) 6-2, 6-3
3. Isfandiyor Makhumudov (WLU) d. Alex Drewes (Woos) 6-3, 7-6(3)
4. Nevio Dux (WLU) d. Shivam Dewan (Woos) 6-2, 6-3
5. Nebyou Minassie (Woos) d. Zarion Jones (WLU) 6-4, 6-3
6. Patrick Johnson (Woos) d. Alfonso Zerpa (WLU) 6-2, 6-1 1. Schulz/Dux (WLU) d. Liberman/Hanna (Woos) 6-3
2. Daisuke Aota/Derek Roehner (WLU) d. Drewes/Minassie (Woos) 6-3
3. Dewan/Nivaan Lobo (Woos) d. Erpel/Jones (WLU) 6-4 1. Stuart Brdicka (Ash) d. Moritz Erpel (WLU) 6-3, 6-2
2. Anton Schulz (WLU) d. William Rassat (Ash) 6-3 6-2
3. Jordan Phelps (Ash) d. Daisuke Aota (WLU) 6-2 6-4
4. Isfandiyor Makhumudov (WLU) d. Fabian Bussard (Ash) 7-6 6-4
5. Nevio Dux (WLU) d. Tche Kun Teng (Ash) 6-1 6-3
6. Zarion Jones (WLU) d. Omar Prince (Ash) 7-5 6-2 1. Brdicka/Phelps (Ash) d. Schulz/Dux (WLU) 6-3
2. Aota/Makhumudov (WLU) d. Gossat/Bussard (Ash) 6-3
3. Kun Teng/Jacob Hoffman (Ash) d. Erpel/Gianluca Gerndt 7-5