WISE, Va. – The University of Charleston proved to be too strong for UVa-Wise men's tennis Friday evening at the Jim and Betty Humphreys Tennis Complex, defeating the Cavaliers (3-9, 0-2 MEC) 8-1 in a Mountain East Conference home match. The visiting Golden Eagles (7-4, 1-1 MEC) swept doubles play and then won five out of the six singles matches to earn the road victory. UVa-Wise's lone bright spot was junior Christopher Armistead (Virginia Beach, Va.) who won at No. 3 singles.
 
Charleston, who is ranked eighth in the NCAA Division II Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) Atlantic Region, got a 8-0 doubles win at the third spot when Jacob Adkins and Bryson Tye defeated the freshmen duo of Daniel Laughlin (Bristol, Va.) and John Hamilton (Wise, Va.). At the top doubles spot junior Andrii Rutnytskyi (Odessa, Ukraine) and Viktor Tunnikov (Kharkiv, Ukraine) were handed an 8-1 loss by the Golden Eagles' Ben Lakeman and Alek Gracin before Armistead and freshman Josh McFadden (Newport News, Va.) were topped 8-3 by Jamie Gibson and Jason Prince of Charleston.
 
In singles play, Armistead won his second consecutive singles match and seventh of the season when he earned a straight-set, 6-3, 6-4 win over the Golden Eagles' Gibson. McFadden played a tightly contested match at the fourth spot, taking Charleston's Guilherme Albertinazzi to a first-set tiebreaker before coming out on the losing end of a 7-6 (7-5), 6-4 decision.
 
Rutnytskyi took three games off of the Golden Eagles' Alec Foote, who is ranked 44th in the nation and second in the ITA Atlantic Region, before bowing out 6-3, 6-0 at No. 1 singles. Elliot Le Petit of Charleston defeated Laughlin 6-0, 6-1 at fifth singles, while the Golden Eagles' Lakeman and Marcelo Quevedo picked up 6-0, 6-0 wins at No. 2 and No. 6 singles, respectively.
 
The Cavs now hit the road and step out of league action for one match before returning to the Jim and Betty Humphreys Tennis Complex. UVa-Wise takes on Lenoir-Rhyne University tomorrow, Saturday, March 25, at 1 p.m. in Hickory, North Carolina.
 
Visit uvawisecavs.com for all Cavalier men's tennis news, statistics, complete schedule and more.
 
Full Match Results
University of Charleston 8, UVa-Wise 1
 
Singles
1. #44 Alec Foote (UC) def. Andrii Rutnytskyi (WISE) 6-3, 6-0
2. Ben Lakeman (UC) def. Viktor Tunnikov (WISE) 6-0, 6-0
3. Christopher Armistead (WISE) def. Jamie Gibson (UC) 6-3, 6-4
4. Guilherme Albertinazzi (UC) def. Josh McFadden (WISE) 7-6 (7-5), 6-4
5. Elliot Le Petit (UC) def. Daniel Laughlin (WISE) 6-0, 6-1
6. Marcelo Quevedo (UC) def. John Hamilton (WISE) 6-0, 6-0
 
Doubles
1. Ben Lakeman/Alek Gracin (UC) def. Andrii Rutnytskyi/Viktor Tunnikov (WISE) 8-1
2. Jamie Gibson/Jason Prince (UC) def. Christopher Armistead/Josh McFadden (WISE) 8-3
3. Jacob Adkins/Bryson Tye (UC) def. Daniel Laughlin/John Hamilton (WISE) 8-0