WHITE SULPHUR SPRINGS, W. Va. -- The Mercyhurst University men's tennis team opened its spring campaign on the wrong end of a 9-0 shutout loss to the Bluefield State Big Blues.  The loss dropped the Lakers' record to 2-4 on the year.

Roberto Rizea came very close to getting Mercyhurst a win in singles play, but ended up falling in the No. 3 match 6-4,6-4 to Bluefield's Shikhar Kapur.  Over in doubles play, Jorn van der Veer and Travis Beck fell just shy of acquiring a win for the Lakers as they lost the No. 1 match 8-4 to Kapur and Vishwesh Sinha.

Mercyhurst will continue its Southern Tour tomorrow afternoon at 1 p.m., as it travels to Athens, West Virginia to take on the Mountain Lions of Concord University.

Singles competition
1. V. Sinha (BS-M) def. Jorn van der Veer (MU-M) 6-2, 6-1
2. J. Carey (BS-M) def. Travis Beck (MU-M) 6-0, 6-3
3. S. Kapur (BS-M) def. Robert Rizea (MU-M) 6-4, 6-4
4. V. Catlan (BS-M) def. Mauricio Canton Diaz (MU-M) 6-1, 6-0
5. C. Pickering (BS-M) def. Eric Drusko (MU-M) 6-1, 6-0
6. N. Sparr (BS-M) def. Mario Sandoval (MU-M) 6-0, 6-1

Doubles competition
1. S. Kapur/V. Sinha (BS-M) def. Jorn van der Veer/Travis Beck (MU-M) 8-4
2. P. Kruk/J. Carey (BS-M) def. Mauricio Canton Diaz/Robert Rizea (MU-M) 8-2
3. N. Sparr/V. Catlan (BS-M) def. Eric Drusko/Mike Vinopal (MU-M) 8-3

Match Notes
Mercyhurst University 2-4
Bluefield State 4-0