WISE - - Coach Danny Rowland and the men's tennis team at UVa-Wise were hoping a return to the Jim Humphreys Tennis Complex would provide a smiling scoreboard when the team played host to Shepherd in a Mountain East Conference match Sunday morning. Despite going to a third set in both number one and two singles, victory eluded the Cavaliers as the Rams claimed a 9-0 triumph.
Andrii Rutnytskyi won 6-3 in the opening set of first singles but was turned back by Shepherd's Grant Davis in set number two to even the match. Rutnyskyi nearly won in the third set but Davis outlasted the freshman to win 10-8 and claim the match.
A similar story would unfold in number two singles where Viktor Tunnikov picked up just one game in the first set before defeating Steven Lasko 6-2 to tie the match. The third set would prove to be the difference maker again as Lasko posted a 10-3 win in earning the victory.
Shepherd swept the other singles matches and won each doubles match by scores of at least 8-2.
The loss drops the Cavs to 3-7 on the season who will next compete at West Liberty on Friday. The team will follow that match up with a trip to Berea the following day.
Full results of today's match may be found below:
