Charleston, W. Va. -- West Virginia Wesleyan snatched a victory in the A Flight Doubles after Joel Izquierdo and Aitor Reparaz topped Sven Rodenbusch and Frederico Toscano from the University of Pikeville (KY) by the score of 8-5. The junior duo from Spain reached the final with an 8-6 win over Charleston's Dennis Okoth and James Gammel as they finished with a perfect 4-0 record on the weekend.
In the title match, the Bobcats took leads with breaks in game 2 and then again in game 7, but each time the Bears countered by breaking serves right back. The match was, again, on serve until the 12th game, when Izquierdo laid down a table-setting return and Reparaz poached a winning backhand volley to seal the break. Izquierdo served out the match and the team claimed their 2nd title of the season. The doubles team is now 11-1 in all matches with their only loss coming in a tie-breaker at the ITA Regional last September.
"Aitor and Joey continue to evolve as a team and they showed some of that growth here this weekend, " said head coach Marc Walters. " They worked well together, and set each other up continuously, which helped them be proactive in their tighter moments."
The win over UC's #1 team will also affect regional rankings as Izquierdo and Reparaz came in at #3 while Gammel and Okoth were the current #2 ranked team.
Other Bobcats with results Saturday included Nathan Savill and
Andre Fernandes, and Jacobo Rendon, who dropped matches in their respective singles semifinals. Each of the players competed up in higher flights on the weekend, and Walters noted they each showed flair and poise in stepping up to the competition level. Rendon lost a close match to UPike's #4 player, Pawel Tarasewicz, by the score of 4-6, 7-6 (4), 10-5. Rendon was serving for the match in the second set at 5-4 before the Bear freshman came back to claim the tie-breaks. Savill also battled deep but dropped his match to Concord 3-6, 3-6.
Tim Stephens and
Jose Titonel also won consolation matches in backdraw play.
The Bobcats have a weekend off before returning to face D-III power Carnegie Mellon U. in Pittsburgh on February 22nd.
