YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio – The Mercyhurst men's tennis team opened its fall season Sept. 12-13 at the YSU Invitational, facing host Youngstown State, Case Western Reserve, Duquesne, Indiana University Indianapolis and Marquette. Ten Lakers played singles across the A, B and C flights.
Singles
Petar Belosevic had the top result in A flight. He beat third-seeded Aril Kayra Tuna of Duquesne 6-3, 4-6, 10-6 (match tiebreak) in the opening round. He then lost to YSU's Oscar Gippet 7-5, 6-3 in the quarterfinals. David Mengher, also in A flight, fell to top-seeded Lenn Stueckrath of YSU 6-2, 7-6(4), pushing the second set to a tiebreak.
In B flight, Tom Oliver reached the quarterfinals when top-seeded Mihai Haita of YSU retired injured in the opening round. Case Western's Konrad Kwiatkowski beat Oliver 7-6(2), 6-1 in the next round. Mykhailo Polishchuck (7-5, 6-2 to Duquesne's Yu-Shun Lai), Nathan Paszylk (7-6, 6-3 to second-seeded Phopthum Sriwong of YSU) and Julius Damaske (6-0, 6-0 to Marquette's Luke Coppage) each lost in the opening round.
In C flight, Francisco Sanchez beat Marquette's Marcos Vazquez 6-3, 6-3 before losing 6-1, 6-1 to second-seeded Adam Memije of Case Western in the quarterfinals. Derek Winsnes lost 6-3, 7-5 to third-seeded Evan Glebov of Marquette. Daniel Stadler lost to fourth-seeded Xander Jhaveri of Case Western 6-1, 6-0, and Kirin Do lost to Case Western's Luke Saylor 6-0, 6-0.
Doubles
Oliver and Polishchuck reached the B-flight semifinals, where Case Western's Saylor and Kwiatkowski beat them 7-6(8). Saylor and Kwiatkowski went on to the final. Do, paired with Marquette's Vazquez, lost 6-2 to top-seeded YSU duo Rafael Le Fur and Dovas Dersonas in the quarterfinals.
In A flight, Mengher and Damaske lost 7-6(3) to YSU's Alex Woiten and Takamasa Mishiro in the round of 16. Belosevic and Stadler lost 6-4 to Case Western's Leon Chen and Rowan Matorin, and Winsnes and Sanchez lost 6-1 to second-seeded YSU pair Stueckrath and Sriwong.
The Lakers next travel to Wilmington, N.C., for the Seahawk Fall Invitational at UNC Wilmington on Sept. 18-20.
