ATHENS, W.Va. – UVa-Wise men's tennis clinched the No. 4 seed in next weekend's Mountain East Conference tournament with a 9-0 shutout at Concord University Sunday afternoon. The Cavaliers (10-8, 4-3 MEC) secured their first winning season in over 10 years and will advance to the MEC tournament for the second time since joining the league three seasons ago.
 
Sweeping all six singles and doubles matches against the host Mountain Lions (1-9, 1-6 MEC), UVa-Wise showed dominant play throughout the lineup.
 
The No. 1 doubles tandem of senior Vladyslav Akimenko (Donetsk, Ukraine) and sophomore Andrii Rutnytskyi (Odessa, Ukraine) took down Concord's Javier Lietor and Stan Cohen, while sophomores Viktor Tunnikov (Kharkiv, Ukraine) and Christopher Armistead (Virginia Beach, Va.) defeated the Mountain Lion's Albert Rose and William Dick 8-2 at third doubles. The duo of senior Oleg Kopychenko (Simferopol, Ukraine) and sophomore Noah Aldridge (Pennington Gap, Va.) earned the last doubles victory at the second spot with an 8-6 win over Bill Wright and Daniel Rose.
 
Akimenko and freshman Blake Pientka (Wise, Va.) wasted no time in claiming singles wins with each taking 6-0, 6-0 victories. At No. 1 singles, Akimenko defeated Concord's Lietor as Pientka took down Albert Rose at the sixth position.
 
Rutnytskyi was a 6-2, 6-1 winner at No. 2 singles over Cohen of Concord while Kopychenko played the closest singles match of the day at the third spot against the Mountain Lions' Wright, coming away with a 6-2, 6-4 victory. Both Tunnikov and Armistead won by identical scores of 6-1, 6-2 at No. 4 and No. 5 singles, respectively. Tunnikov handed Concord's Daniel Rose a loss at fourth singles and Armistead took down Dick at the fifth spot.
 
The Cavs will now have four days off from competition before postseason play on Friday, April 22, at the 2016 MEC Men's Tennis Tournament in Charleston, West Virginia. UVa-Wise will take on fifth-seeded Fairmont State University in an 11 a.m. match from the Schoenbaum Tennis Courts.
 
Visit uvawisecavs.com for all Cavalier men's tennis news, statistics, complete schedule and more.
 
Full Match Results
UVa-Wise 9, Concord University 0
 
Singles
1. Vladyslav Akimenko (WISE) def. Javier Lietor (CU) 6-0, 6-0
2. Andrii Rutnytskyi (WISE) def. Stan Cohen (CU) 6-2, 6-1
3. Oleg Kopychenko (WISE) def. Bill Wright (CU) 6-2, 6-4
4. Viktor Tunnikov (WISE) def. Daniel Rose (CU) 6-1, 6-2
5. C. Armistead (WISE) def. William Dick (CU) 6-1, 6-2
6. Blake Pientka (WISE) def. Albert Rose (CU) 6-0, 6-0
 
Doubles
1. Vladyslav Akimenko/Andrii Rutnytskyi (WISE) def. Javier Lietor/Stan Cohen (CU) 8-1
2. Oleg Kopychenko/Noah Aldridge (WISE) def. Bill Wright/Daniel Rose (CU) 8-6
3. Viktor Tunnikov/C. Armistead (WISE) def. Albert Rose/William Dick (CU) 8-2