WHEELING, W.Va. – The West Liberty University men's tennis team dropped a 4-3 decision to West Virginia Wesleyan here Saturday in a Mountain East Conference match played on the indoor courts at Wheeling Park.
    A hard-fought tiebreaker loss in doubles play ultimately proved to be the difference as the Hilltoppers (9-4, 2-1) and Bobcats (6-4, 1-0) battled on virtually even terms throughout the day.
    Moritz Erpel and Gianluca Gerndt breezed to a 6-1 win at No. 2 doubles for WLU but Wesleyan got the nod at No. 3 doubles, leaving the doubles point to be decided by the result at No. 1 doubles. West LIberty's No. 1 doubles tandem of Anton Schulz and Nevio Dux carried their match into a tiebreaker only to see the visitors earn the doubles points with a narrow 7-5 win in the tiebreaker.
    That 1-0 advantage proved crucial as the teams went on to split the six singles matches at three apiece. Erpel, Isfan Makhumudov and Zarion Zones were the singles winners for West Liberty.
    The Hilltoppers will be idle this week before returning to action on April 5 with a non-conference neutral site match against Bluefield State in Vienna, W.Va.
  Karasawa/Salvi (WVW) d. Dux/Schulz, 7-6(5)
Erpel/Gerndt (WLU) d. Papworth/Granero, 6-1
McIntosh/Zumba (WVW) d. Makhumudov/Jones, 6-4 Erpel (WLU) d. Karasawa, 6-4 6-4
Papworth (WVW) d. Schulz, 6-3 6-3
Salvi (WVW) d. Gerndt, 6-0 6-1
Makhumudov (WLU) d. Zumba, 6-1 6-3
McIntosh (WVW) d. Dux, 6-4 7-5
Jones (WLU) d. McGee, 6-0 6-2