BUCKHANNON, WV – The UVA Wise men's tennis team had several close hard-fought flights but in the end the homestanding West Virginia Wesleyan squad eked out the 5-2 win Friday afternoon.
It was the season opener for both teams and the first match for the men under new tennis coach
Alex Hunt.
The Highland Cavaliers captured the doubles point with wins at the first and third flights.
Daniel Gonzalez Garza and Miguel de Rueda won 6-2 at no. 1 over Jed Platts and Mika Kreisel; while
Hsin-Nuo Hsieh and
Diego Pedrero captured the point with their 6-3 win over Ricardo Starosta and Mathis Blary at no. 3. At the second flight,
Yi-Hsuan Chen and
Dmitrii Semenov fell 6-2.
Gonzalez Garza grabbed the point for the Cavs at the second singles flight, defeating Takuya Kobayashi 6-2, 2-6, 6-2.
The third, fourth, and fifth flights all went to three sets, but unfortunately the Cavs were on the short end of each. At no. 3, De Rueda fell to Starosta 6-3. 5-7, 6-0; while at the fourth flight Semenov lost to Kreisel by hard-fought 7-5. 2-6. 7-5 scores. In the sixth flight,
Vanja Vojinovic lost to Andres Valverde 2-6, 6-3. 7-6 (7-5).
Chen lost the first set to Karasawa 6-3 and tied the second at 6-6 before falling in the tiebreaker 7-3 to end the first flight with a 6-3, 7-6 (7-3) deficit. Hsieh was bested by Blary 6-1, 6-0 in the fith flight.
"The men brought their talent today that's for sure," said Coach Hunt. "The point play was incredible. It's just that, unfortunately, toward the end of the match, West Virginia Wesleyan was stronger than us mentally and emotionally. We'll be back at it tomorrow against Davis and Elkins to look at correcting the few issues of today. We're excited to get back out there."
The team will face Davis & Elkins Saturday morning at 10 a.m. on the West Virginia Wesleyan campus.
