WISE, Va. – In its final home match of the 2017 season the UVa-Wise men's tennis team suffered a 7-2 Mountain East Conference setback against Shepherd University Saturday afternoon at the Jim and Betty Humphreys Tennis Complex. The Cavaliers (4-11, 1-3 MEC) were swept in doubles play by the visiting Rams (6-5, 1-0 MEC) after about a one and a half hour rain delay, before turning to junior Christopher Armistead (Virginia Beach, Va.) and freshman Josh McFadden (Newport News, Va.) for singles wins.
 
Despite leading at both No. 1 and No. 2 doubles, UVa-Wise came up empty handed in doubles competition. After owning a 4-1 advantage at the top doubles spot, the junior duo of Andrii Rutnytskyi (Odessa, Ukraine) and Viktor Tunnikov (Kharkiv, Ukraine) were defeated 8-6 by Shepherd's Carter and Grant Davis. At second doubles, Armistead and McFadden led 4-3 before the Rams' Austin Thomas and Kaleb Lochner rattled off five consecutive games for an 8-4 win.
 
Lewis Charette and Clayton Smith of Shepherd picked up an 8-0 No. 3 doubles win over the Cavs' freshmen team of Daniel Laughlin (Bristol, Va.) and John Hamilton (Wise, Va.).
 
UVa-Wise's lone match wins of the day came at No. 3 and No. 4 singles. McFadden upended the Rams' Lochner in convincing fashion (6-1, 6-2) at the fourth spot, while Armistead was a 6-3, 6-1 victor over Shepherd's Charette at the third position.
 
Laughlin was the only other Cav to take more than one game off of his opponent as he fell 6-1, 6-1 to Thomas of Shepherd at No. 5 singles. Rutnytskyi at the top singles spot and Hamilton at No. 6 singles both lost 6-1, 6-0 matches to the Rams' Carter Davis and Smith, respectively. Shepherd's Grant Davis shutout Tunnikov at second singles.
 
The Cavs will now hit the road for four matches to wrap up the regular season. UVa-Wise begins its four-match road trip tomorrow at West Virginia State, first serve is scheduled for 12 p.m.
 
Visit uvawisecavs.com for all Cavalier men's tennis news, statistics, complete schedule and more.
 
Full Match Results
Shepherd University 7, UVa-Wise 2
 
Singles
1. Carter Davis (SU) def. Andrii Rutnytskyi (WISE) 6-1, 6-0
2. Grant Davis (SU) def. Viktor Tunnikov (WISE) 6-0, 6-0
3. Christopher Armistead (WISE) def. Lewis Charette (SU) 6-3, 6-1
4. Josh McFadden (WISE) def. Kaleb Lochner (SU) 6-1, 6-2
5. Austin Thomas (SU) def. Daniel Laughlin (WISE) 6-1, 6-1
6. Clayton Smith (SU) def. John Hamilton (WISE) 6-1, 6-0
 
Doubles
1. Carter Davis/Grant Davis (SU) def. Andrii Rutnytskyi/Viktor Tunnikov (WISE) 8-6
2. Austin Thomas/Kaleb Lochner (SU) def. Christopher Armistead/Josh McFadden (WISE) 8-4
3. Lewis Charette/Clayton Smith (SU) def. Daniel Laughlin/John Hamilton (WISE) 8-0