BLOOMSBURG, Pa. – The Mercyhurst tennis teams traveled east to participate in a series matches hosted by Bloomsburg which also saw Franklin & Marshall as one of the contestants. After strong showings in previous weeks, the Lakers were looking to showcase their strength as the fall season begins to wind down.
 
In singles competition, the women's team had a fair split against their opponents. Freshman Variance Horn-Bouque took on Bloomsburg and came away with a win after 4-2 and 4-0 sets. Against Franklin & Marshall, she fell in a tight 7-5 battle before dropping the final set 6-2. Senior Mollie Gray took on Bloomsburg for her only singles match, falling 6-1 and 6-0. Senior transfer Kateryna Kryuchkova won her matchup against Franklin & Marshall after going three sets; 6-4, 3-6, and 10-8. Biatris Shakratova rounded out the women's singles competitors with a 6-2 and 6-4 win.
 
For the men's team, Reece Dennis fell in both of his matches against Bloomsburg and Franklin & Marshall. Kirin Do took on only Bloomsburg and fell in both of his matches. Freshman Tom Oliver managed to attempt a comeback in his second match against Bloomsburg, but fell 7-6 with a tiebreaker of 3. Cologne, Germany native Julius Damaske won his tight matchup with Franklin & Marshall via scores of 6-4, 6-7 (4), and 10-8. To round out the Laker competitors, both Derek Winsnes and Nikola Radisic managed to pull away with wins against Franklin & Marshall while Daniel Stadler fell in his matches.
 
For the doubles pairings, the women's team came away with a 2-1 record with Horn and Kryuchkova defeating their opponents 7-6 (6) and 6-4. The team of Gray and Shakratova fell to Bloomsburg 6-2.
 
For the men's pairings, Stadler and Winsnes fell 6-0 and 6-1 in each of their matches while Oliver and Damaske split against Franklin & Marshall 6-7 (1) and 6-4. The final pairing of Do and Dennis also split with Bloomsburg, winning 6-4 and falling in their final match 6-4.
 
The teams will next participate in the ITA Regional Championships beginning October 15^th. The men's team will travel to Philadelphia while the women's squad will head to Princeton.