SALEM, Va. – The UVa-Wise men's tennis team earned a pair of non-conference wins away from home Saturday. The Cavaliers (6-7) took down Hampden-Sydney College 7-2 in a neutral-site match in Salem, Virginia, before defeating Roanoke College 6-3 in a true road match.
 
UVa-Wise's first match of the day versus the Tigers (1-7) was of significance as Head Coach Danny Rowland went up against one of his former players. Hampden-Sydney Head Coach Robert Bareford played under Coach Rowland at UVa-Wise for two years in the late 2000's before transferring to Virginia Tech.
 
Bareford, a native of Richmond, Virginia, suited up for the Red and Gray during the 2006-07 and 2007-08 seasons and has guided the Tigers since August of 2014. This time out Bareford's former head coach got the best of his squad.
 
The Cavs swept Hampden-Sydney in doubles and won four out of the six singles matches to earn the victory. The duo of senior Vladyslav Akimenko (Donetsk, Ukraine) and sophomore Andrii Rutnytskyi (Odessa, Ukraine) defeated the Tigers' Patrick Bryant and David Anderson 8-4 at No. 1 doubles, while senior Oleg Kopychenko (Simferopol, Ukraine) and sophomore Viktor Tunnikov (Kharkiv, Ukraine) won 9-7 in a close match at second doubles against Trent Singleton and Harrison Stone of Hampden-Sydney. Sophomores Christopher Armistead (Virginia Beach, Va.) and Noah Aldridge (Pennington Gap, Va.) were 8-5 winners at the third doubles spot over the Tigers' team of Andrew Loving and Nathan Horvit.
 
Playing pro sets in singles – instead of the traditional best two-out-of-three six-game sets – due to playing two dual matches in one day, the Cavs clinched the team win with a trio of 8-1 singles wins. Akimenko, Rutnytskyi and Kopychenko each recorded 8-1 wins at the No. 1, No. 2 and No. 3 singles spots, respectively.
 
Armistead gave the Cavs a 7-0 lead in the match when he upended Hampden-Sydney's Horvit at the fifth spot, also by a score of 8-1.
 
The Tigers' lone match points came at the fourth and sixth positions when Anderson outlasted Tunnikov in a tiebreaker (7-5) for a 9-8 win at No. 4 singles as Bryant of Hampden Sydney defeated freshman Blake Pientka (Wise, Va.) 8-1 at No. 6 singles.
 
UVa-Wise's second match of the day against the host Maroons (3-5) proved to be a little tougher.
 
The Cavs took a 2-1 lead on Roanoke after doubles play with the tandem of Akimenko and Rutnytskyi scoring a 8-5 win over the Maroons' Matt Kessler and Jacob Morris at the top spot. Armistead and Tunnikov teamed up to get a close, 9-7 win at No. 3 doubles against Jose Alvarado and Bill Going of Roanoke. The Maroons lone doubles point came at the second position where Joey Ross and Holden Branham were victorious over Kopychenko and Pientka.
 
Just like the first match of the day, the Cavs and the Maroons played pro sets in singles competition. Roanoke tied up the team score at 2-2 as Morris defeated Kopychenko 8-1 at No. 3 singles. However, the Cavs responded with Rutnytskyi claiming an 8-4 win at the second singles position over the Maroons' Kessler.
 
At the fifth singles spot Armistead gave the Cavs a 4-2 lead when he took down Roanoke's Chris Teeple, before the Maroons' Going made it a 4-3 match after defeating Aldridge 8-2 at No. 6 singles.
 
The Cavs clinched the match as Tunnikov earned an 8-2 win at the fourth singles spot over Branham of Roanoke. In the final match of the day, Akimenko secured an 8-6 singles victory against Roanoke's Ross at the top flight.
 
The Cavs will have a week off from competition before returning to Mountain East Conference play. Remaining on the road, UVa-Wise will travel to Fairmont State University next Saturday for a 2 p.m. match before taking on Shepherd University Sunday at 9 a.m.
 
Visit uvawisecavs.com for all Cavalier men's tennis news, statistics, complete schedule and more.
 
Full Match Results
UVa-Wise 7, Hampden-Sydney College 2
 
Singles
1. Vladyslav Akimenko (WISE) def. Trent Singleton (HSC) 8-1
2. Andrii Rutnytskyi (WISE) def. Andrew Loving (HSC) 8-1
3. Oleg Kopychenko (WISE) def. Harrison Stone (HSC) 8-1
4. David Anderson (HSC) def. Viktor Tunnikov (WISE) 9-8 (7-5)
5. C. Armistead (WISE) def. Nathan Horvit (HSC) 8-3
6. Patrick Bryant (HSC) def. Blake Pientka (WISE) 8-1
 
Doubles
1. Vladyslav Akimenko/Andrii Rutnytskyi (WISE) def. Patrick Bryant/David Anderson (HSC) 8-4
2. Oleg Kopychenko/Viktor Tunnikov (WISE) def. Trent Singleton/Harrison Stone (HSC) 9-7
3. C. Armistead/Noah Aldridge (WISE) def. Andrew Loving/Nathan Horvit (HSC) 8-5
 
Full Match Results
UVa-Wise 6, Roanoke College 3
 
Singles
1. Vladyslav Akimenko (WISE) def. Joey Ross (ROA) 8-6
2. Andrii Rutnytskyi (WISE) def. Matt Kessler (ROA) 8-4
3. Jacob Morris (ROA) def. Oleg Kopychenko (WISE) 8-1
4. Viktor Tunnikov (WISE) def. Holden Branham (ROA) 8-2
5. C. Armistead (WISE) def. Chris Teeple (ROA) 8-3
6. Bill Going (ROA) def. Noah Aldridge (WISE) 8-2
 
Doubles
1. Vladyslav Akimenko/Andrii Rutnytskyi (WISE) def. Matt Kessler/Jacob Morris (ROA) 8-5
2. Joey Ross/Holden Branham (ROA) def. Oleg Kopychenko/Blake Pientka (WISE) 8-4
3. C. Armistead/Viktor Tunnikov (WISE) def. Jose Alvarado/Bill Going (ROA) 9-7