Wheeling, W.Va. – The West Liberty University men's tennis team opened Mountain East Conference (MEC) play on Saturday with a tough 7-0 loss to Davis & Elkins at the Wheeling Park Bubble.

The Senators controlled the match from start to finish, sweeping both singles and doubles competition. In singles action, Federico Murrau fell to Viktor Yanev 6-0, 6-0, while Barney Cowan was defeated by Duarte Correia 6-3, 6-1. Ignacio Giurfa came up short against Santiago Ordonez 6-1, 6-0, and Austin Zgurski dropped his match to Christo Wirahadipoernomo 6-0, 6-1. Chris Burns and Robert Lindsey also faced challenging matchups, both losing 6-0, 6-0 to Justus Petersilie and Filippo Buffo, respectively.

West Liberty also struggled in doubles play. Cowan and Giurfa fell 6-1 to Sean Maphosa and Duarte Correia. Murrau and Zgurski dropped their match 6-1 against Petersilie and Philipp Fedorczuk, while Lindsey and Burns were shut out 6-0 by Yanev and Wirahadipoernomo.

Next up the Hilltoppers will head to Hilton Head, S.C., to take on Chowan University next Saturday.