WEST LIBERTY, W.Va. – The West Liberty University men's tennis team celebrated Senior Day on Tuesday with a thrilling 4-3 victory against Fairmont State in a battle of regionally-ranked squads at the Edgar Martin Tennis Complex.
    It was the first Mountain East Conference loss of the season for the visiting Falcons (7-6, 3-1), who came into the day at No. 5 in the NCAA Division II Atlantic Region rankings. However, it was a huge win for Coach Ronnie Hulewicz's Hilltoppers (11-7, 4-2), who slotted in right behind Fairmont State at No. 6 in the region.
    Tuesday's match was close throughout after Fairmont took the doubles point by the slimmest of margins. The teams traded convincing wins at No. 1 and No. 2 doubles but the No. 3 doubles match went down to the wire and beyond with FSU pulling out the win in a tiebreaker.
    Fairmont picked up wins at No. 2 and No. 3 singles to move within one victory of taking the match but the Hilltoppers didn't back down. Isfan Makhumudov powered past reigning MEC Player of the Week Kan Watanabe, 6-3 6-3, at No. 3 singles and Moritz Erpel bounced back from a 6-0 loss in the second set of his No. 1 singles match against Bartosz Losiak to keep WLU in the match with a 7-5 nod in the decisive third set.
    It all came down to the last two singles matches of the night. West Liberty's Nevio Dux squared the match with a hard-fought 7-6(5) 7-5 straight-set win against Alex Stacy at No. 5 singles and Zarion Jones clinched it with a 6-2 7-6(5) victory in the No. 6 slot.
    Coach Hulewicz and assistant coach George Frazier presented West Liberty's two seniors - Anton Schulz and Daisuke Aota - with commemorative plaques in a Senior Day ceremony prior to the match.
    The West Liberty men close out the regular season on Monday with a makeup non-conference match against Salem (W.Va.). First serve is set for 3 p.m. at Washington Park in Washington, Pa.
  Losiak/Barozzi (FSU) d. Dux/Schulz, 6-3
Makhumudov/Aota (WLU) d. Saadevandi/Stacy, 6-0
Watanabe/Boone (FSU) d. Erpel/Roehner, 7-6(4) Erpel (WLU) d. Losiak, 7-6(4) 0-6 7-5
Barozzi (FSU) d. Schulz, 6-0 6-4
Saad (FSU) d. Aota, 6-4 5-7 7-6(7)
Makhumudov (WLU) d. Watanabe, 6-3 6-3
Dux (WLU) d. Stacy, 7-6(5) 7-5
Jones (WLU) d. Boone, 6-2 7-6(5)