ERIE, Pa. - Freshman Conor McCooey had a fine weekend for the Mercyhurst University men's tennis team and highlighted the Lakers at the 2013 USTA/ITA Atlantic Regional Championships hosted by Mercyhurst. The tournament ended Sunday afternoon and was held at the Pennbriar Athletic Club.
McCooey lost his opening match in singles play on Friday night to Bluefield State's Piotr Kruk, 6-3 and 7-5. But, the freshman from Dublin, Ireland won four straight matches after his opening round loss to win the championship singles consolation bracket. He knocked off West Liberty's Pablo Cimorra 8-4 and Juan Sanchez of Shaw 8-4 on Saturday and then defeated Sergio Cuartas of Shaw 8-4 and Charles Silva 8-6 in the consolation championship match on Sunday to win the bracket.
McCooey was not finished, however, as he teamed up with fellow freshman Daniel Gimenez to win the championship doubles consolation bracket as well. The duo lost their opening round match to Edinboro's Bruno Borja and Brandon Romain on Friday by an 8-5 final, but responded with three straight victories on Saturday and Sunday to win the bracket. The freshman pair defeated West Liberty's Alex Hayden and Matt Tully, 8-3, and then disposed of Shaw's Juan Sanchez and Andre Monti by an 8-4 final on Saturday. In Sunday's championship in the bracket, McCooey and Gimenez held off Andrew Ponder and Pablo Cimorra of West Liberty by a 9-7 count.
Things started positively for the Lakers on the opening night of the tournament Friday.
Arguably the best win of Friday night for the Lakers came from Gimenez. He battled back after losing the first set to West Virginia Wesleyan's Nathan Savill to win the next two sets and to earn himself a spot in the round of 16. Gimenez earned a 4-6, 7-5, 13-11 win over Savill, but then lost in straight sets to eventual tournament champion Jacob Carey of Bluefield State on Saturday morning.
Sophomore Robert Rizea earned a straight sets victory, 6-4, 6-1 over Aitor Reparaz of West Virginia Wesleyan in his opening match and then handled Bluefield State's Connor Pickering in straight sets on Saturday morning. However, Rizea's run would come to an end later Saturday whe he lost to eventual runner-up, Aziz Yuldashev of Bluefield State in straight sets.
Sophomore Travis Beck followed suit with a 6-4, 6-4 win over Edinboro's Kody Duncan on Friday, but lost his next match to James Gammell of Charleston, 6-3, 7-5 on Saturday.
In doubles, Beck and Rizea lost 8-4 to the team of James Gammell and Dennis Okoth of Charleston on Friday and then had to forfeit Saturday's match when Rizea suffered an ankle injury in his singles match against Yuldashev.
In B singles action, freshman Ross Molinaro IV earned a 6-0, 6-1 win over Thomas Pellegrino of Edinboro, then adavanced with a straight sets win over teammate Mike Vinopal on Saturday. Molinaro IV continued his run to the championship match in B singles with a walkover win over Andrew Fernandes of West Virginia Wesleyan. However, the Laker freshman lost in the B singles championship on Sunday to Gabe Seymour of Charleston, 6-4, 6-0.
Senior Eric Drusko and sophomore Mario Sandoval each earned three-set wins on Friday, with Drusko coming from behind after losing the first set. Both, however, would lose their next matches on Saturday morning. Vinopal opened play with a straight sets win over West Liberty's Zach Kirkwood, but then ran into his teammate.
Junior Mauricio Canton Diaz, junior Kyle Hosier, and freshman Miguel Lopez lost their opening round matches and dropped to the consolation bracket on the B side. All three lost their opening matches in consolation play.
In B doubles, Drusko and Molinaro IV lost 9-7 to the team of Andres Fernandes and Jose Titonel of West Virginia Wesleyan. Sandoval and Hosier dropped an 8-4 decision to Sagar Sathyanarayanan and Nathan Hansen of Edinboro. Both Laker duos dropped to consolation play where they lost their opening round matches in that bracket. The same couldn not be said, however, for Canton Diaz and Vinopal. The duo lost their opening round match in B doubles, but defeated Sandoval and Hosier 8-1 and then Edinboro's Raffaele Fusulan and Chad Brown 9-8 (4) to advance to the Sunday's championship in the B doubles consolation bracket. They lost, however, to Nick Comforti and Brandon Galici of West Liberty, 8-3 in the finals.
The men's team will play at Penn State Behrend on Wednesday, October 2. Start time is scheduled for 3:30 p.m.
