WISE, Va. – The UVa-Wise men's tennis team suffered a 9-0 setback Wednesday evening at home against the University of Pikeville. The Cavaliers (4-6, 0-1 MEC) could not pick up a match win against the visiting Bears (6-2, 1-1 Mid-South) despite a tightly contested No. 1 singles match between senior Vladyslav Akimenko (Donetsk, Ukraine) and Pikeville's Enzo Douillac.
 
The duo of Akimenko and sophomore Andrii Rutnytskyi (Odessa, Ukraine) challenged Jan Kappes and Douillac of Pikeville at the No. 1 doubles spot but were defeated 8-2. Sophomores Christopher Armistead (Virginia Beach, Va.) and Noah Aldridge (Pennington Gap, Va.) came out on the losing end of a 8-1 decision to the Bear's Juan Manuel Reyes and Nano Garcia Fernandez at third doubles, while senior Oleg Kopychenko (Simferopol, Ukraine) and sophomore Viktor Tunnikov (Kharkiv, Ukraine) were taken down 8-0 at second doubles by Pikeville's duo of Eric Bernabeu and Diego Reboredo.
 
In a thrilling match at the top singles position, Akimenko jumped out to a 4-1 lead in the first set against the Bear's Douillac and despite not being able to quickly close out the set, Akimenko held on for a 7-5 first-set win. The second set went the way of Douillac by a score of 6-2 before the two battled out the third and final set. The set was decided at 7-5 but unlike the first set, Akimenko was not victorious as Douillac won the match by a final tally of 5-7, 6-2, 7-5.
 
Rutnytskyi grabbed two games in each set at No. 2 singles against Fernandez of Pikeville as both Kopychenko and Tunnikov were defeated by identical scores (6-1, 6-1) at No. 3 and No. 4 singles, respectively, by Reyes and Reboredo.
 
Pikeville's Oriol Gallardo Puig got the best of Armistead in a 6-1, 6-0 match at the fifth spot and the Bear's Azevedo was a 6-0, 6-0 winner at No. 6 singles over freshman Blake Pientka (Wise, Va.).
 
The Cavs will now begin a seven-game stretch of games played away from home starting this Saturday with a non-conference contest at Davis & Elkins College. First serve is scheduled for 1 p.m.
 
Visit uvawisecavs.com for all Cavalier men's tennis news, statistics, complete schedule and more.
 
Full Match Results
University of Pikeville 9, UVa-Wise 0
 
Singles
1. Enzo Douillac (PIKE) def. Vladyslav Akimenko (WISE) 5-7, 6-2, 7-5
2. NanoGarcia Fernandez (PIKE) def. Andrii Rutnytskyi (WISE) 6-2, 6-2
3. Juan Manuel Reyes (PIKE) def. Oleg Kopychenko (WISE) 6-1, 6-1
4. Diego Reboredo (PIKE) def. Viktor Tunnikov (WISE) 6-1, 6-1
5. Oriol Gallardo Puig (PIKE) def. C. Armistead (WISE) 6-1, 6-0
6. Pedro Azevedo (PIKE) def. Blake Pientka (WISE) 6-0, 6-0
 
Doubles
1. Jan Kappes/Enzo Douillac (PIKE) def. Vladyslav Akimenko/Andrii Rutnytskyi (WISE) 8-2
2. Eric Bernabeu/Diego Reboredo (PIKE) def. Oleg Kopychenko/Viktor Tunnikov (WISE) 8-0
3. Juan Manuel Reyes/NanoGarcia Fernandez (PIKE) def. C. Armistead/Noah Aldridge (WISE) 8-1