WISE, Va. – UVa-Wise men's tennis pretty much locked up the No. 4 seed for the upcoming Mountain East Conference Tournament with a 9-0 home shutout of West Virginia State Monday afternoon on Senior Day. Prior to the match Cavalier seniors Vladyslav Akimenko (Donetsk, Ukraine) and Oleg Kopychenko (Simferopol, Ukraine) were honored for their hard work and commitment to the team.
 
The Cavs (9-8, 3-3 MEC) were able to sweep all three doubles and six singles matches against the visiting Yellow Jackets (1-9, 0-6 MEC) to claim their fifth win in six contests.
 
The tandem of Akimenko and sophomore Andrii Rutnytskyi (Odessa, Ukraine) were dominant in their 8-0 No. 1 doubles victory against West Virginia State's Logan Jarrett and Heath Diehl. Kopychenko and sophomore Noah Aldridge (Pennington Gap, Va.) earned a 8-5 doubles victory at the second spot over the Yellow Jacket's Caleb Starkey and Dylan Jasariya, while the sophomore duo of Viktor Tunnikov (Kharkiv, Ukraine) and Christopher Armistead (Virginia Beach, Va.) claimed the final doubles match when they defeated Noah Fulks and Ethan Cross of West Virginia State.
 
Singles play seemed to go the same was as doubles with the Cavs earning straight-set victories in all six matches. Akimenko was the first to finish as he defeated the Yellow Jacket's Jarrett 6-2, 6-2 at the top singles spot. At No. 2 singles, Rutnytskyi did not drop a single game on his way to a 6-0, 6-0 win over West Virginia State's Caleb Starkey.
 
Tunnikov pulled off a 6-1, 6-0 victory against Diehl of West Virginia State at the fourth singles position before Kopychenko took down the Yellow Jacket's Jasariya 6-2, 6-1 at third singles.
 
Freshman Blake Pientka (Wise, Va.) earned his first singles match win of the spring season when he defeated Baylee Vankirk of West Virginia State at the sixth spot. In the final match of the day at No. 5 singles, Armistead grabbed a 6-1, 6-3 win against West Virginia State's Sean Matics.
 
Both Akimenko and Kopychenko reflected on their time at UVa-Wise and playing on the tennis team after the match. "It's been nice and very entertaining", Kopychenko commented. "It's been a very interesting experience and I'm still here for one more semester", remarked Akimenko, "I really do like this college and the people around here are very nice. I am definitely glad that I ended up here."
 
Vlad and Oleg also talked about the most memorable moments they shared while playing tennis at the College. Akimenko continued, "I really can't pinpoint one moment that was memorable during my time here as a player because the whole thing has been a great experience, I've really enjoyed it."
 
"Probably the most memorable experience I had here as a tennis player was the last doubles match of my freshman year", Kopychenko added. "Zack Holcomb and I just kept hitting one of our doubles opponents like five times, haha", joked Kopychenko.
 
The Cavs will now have six days off from competition before traveling to Athens, West Virginia, next Sunday for a 1 p.m. match at Concord University. The MEC road match will wrap up UVa-Wise's regular season.
 
Postseason play will begin for the Cavs on Friday, April 22, with the 2016 MEC Men's Tennis Tournament in Charleston, West Virginia. Seeding, opponent and match time will be announced later.
 
Visit uvawisecavs.com for all Cavalier men's tennis news, statistics, complete schedule and more.
 
Full Match Results
UVa-Wise 9, West Virginia State 0
 
Singles
1. Vladyslav Akimenko (WISE) def. Logan Jarrett (WVSU) 6-2, 6-2
2. Andrii Rutnytskyi (WISE) def. Caleb Starkey (WVSU) 6-0, 6-0
3. Oleg Kopychenko (WISE) def. Dylan Jasariya (WVSU) 6-2, 6-1
4. Viktor Tunnikov (WISE) def. Heath Diehl (WVSU) 6-1, 6-0
5. C. Armistead (WISE) def. Sean Matics (WVSU) 6-1, 6-3
6. Blake Pientka (WISE) def. Baylee Vankirk (WVSU) 6-3, 6-4
 
Doubles
1. Vladyslav Akimenko/Andrii Rutnytskyi (WISE) def. Logan Jarrett/Heath Diehl (WVSU) 8-0
2. Oleg Kopychenko/Noah Aldridge (WISE) def. Caleb Starkey/Dylan Jasariya (WVSU) 8-5
3. Viktor Tunnikov/C. Armistead (WISE) def. Noah Fulks/Ethan Cross (WVSU) 8-6