FAIRMONT, W.Va. – The UVa-Wise men's tennis team earned a big 5-4 Mountain East Conference road win at Fairmont State Saturday in exciting fashion. The Cavaliers (7-7, 1-2 MEC) and the host Fighting Falcons (4-12, 2-3 MEC) battled out each other for three hours and 30 minutes before sophomore Christopher Armistead (Virginia Beach, Va.) won a three-set match at No. 5 singles to clinch the Cavs' victory.
 
Down 2-1 after doubles play, the Cavs battled their way back in singles completion by winning four of the six singles matches. Fairmont State's Noah Weber and Zach Hatfield claimed the first match of the day when they defeated senior Oleg Kopychenko (Simferopol, Ukraine) and freshman Blake Pientka (Wise, Va.) 8-2 at No. 2 doubles. UVa-Wise then claimed No. 1 doubles as the duo of senior Vladyslav Akimenko (Donetsk, Ukraine) and sophomore Andrii Rutnytskyi (Odessa, Ukraine) took down the Fighting Falcons' Micha Hornak and Aaron Leo 8-5.
 
The third doubles proved to be quite a match after sophomores Viktor Tunnikov (Kharkiv, Ukraine) and Armistead willed themselves back from a 6-1 deficit to force a tiebreaker. Ryan Leo and Alec Moran of Fairmont State ended up taking the match 9-8, winning the breaker 7-4.
 
Singles play began with the host Fighting Falcons grabbing a 3-1 lead on the Cavs when Ryan Leo defeated sophomore Noah Aldridge (Pennington Gap, Va.) 6-1, 6-1 at No. 6 singles. Kopychenko rattled off multiple games in a row after trailing in the first set to top Fairmont State's Aaron Leo, 6-4, 6-0, at third singles.
 
UVa-Wise tied the team score up at 3-3 when Rutnytskyi earned a 6-3, 6-4 win at No. 2 singles over Matheus Rodrigues of Fairmont State. The Fighting Falcons last match win of the day came at the fourth singles spot when Moran was a 6-1, 6-4 winner over Tunnikov. At No. 1 singles Akimenko grinded out a hard-fought 6-3, 6-4 match against the Fighting Falcons' Hornak to tie up the team score once again, this time at 4-4.
 
With the dual match in the balance, Armistead held on for an exciting three-set win at the fifth singles position. Leading 6-2, 5-2, Armistead was forced into a second-set tiebreaker by Hatfield of Fairmont State. Hatfield made the comeback and took the second set, 7-6 (1), before the two went back and forth in the third and final set. Armistead was able to outlast Hatfield in the third set for a 6-3 win, which clinched the match for UVa-Wise.
 
"It was a really good win for us since the Fighting Falcons were picked to finish fourth in the MEC", Head Coach Danny Rowland commented after the match. "Chris (Armistead) played an excellent match at No. 5 singles as both players were just exhausted at the end, he did a good job of staying with it and getting the win", Rowland added. "We really had a great match at No. 3 doubles too after being down 6-1, we came back and only lost in a tiebreaker. I was pleased with how we played throughout the lineup."
 
The Cavs will remain on the road and travel to Shepherdstown, West Virginia, for an 8 a.m. match Sunday at Shepherd University.
 
Visit uvawisecavs.com for all Cavalier men's tennis news, statistics, complete schedule and more.
 
Full Match Results
UVa-Wise 5, Fairmont State 4
 
Singles
1. Vladyslav Akimenko (WISE) def. Micah Hornak (FS) 6-3, 6-4
2. Andrii Rutnytskyi (WISE) def. Matheus Rodrigues (FS) 6-3, 6-4
3. Oleg Kopychenko (WISE) def. Aaron Leo (FS) 6-4, 6-0
4. Alec Moran (FS) def. Viktor Tunnikov (WISE) 6-1, 6-4
5. C. Armistead (WISE) def. Zach Hatfield (FS) 6-2, 6-7 (1-7), 6-3
6. Ryan Leo (FS) def. Noah Aldridge (WISE) 6-1, 6-1
 
Doubles
1. Vladyslav Akimenko/Andrii Rutnytskyi (WISE) def. Micah Hornak/Aaron Leo (FS) 8-5
2. Noah Weber/Zach Hatfield (FS) def. Oleg Kopychenko/Blake Pientka (WISE) 8-2
3. Ryan Leo/Alec Moran (FS) def. Viktor Tunnikov/C. Armistead (WISE) 9-8 (7-4)