Charleston, WV --  West Virginia Wesleyan swept the singles matches en route to a 8-1 win over the University of Charleston here Wednesday evening. 


The #36 ranked Bobcats kept their conference record clean, moving to 4-0 in Mountain East play while improving to 11-3 overall. UC drops to 9-4 overall, and 3-1 in the conference.



The match, played indoors at the Charleston Tennis Club, was a much closer affair than the final score indicated. The three doubles matches were all decided by one game, and the Bobcats saved match points at the #2 spot before winning 9-7. 


After taking 2-1 lead in doubles, the 'Cats jumped out to a 4-1 lead after decisive singles wins by Maycon Santos Dias (#2) and Thomas McIntosh (#5). 


But UC refused to go quietly, and the Golden Eagles fought back to spilt sets in three of the other matches before Wesleyan found the clinching point at the #4 position behind Charalampos Simaioforidis' 6-4, 2-6, 6-1 win over Alex Gracin. 


Lukas Laipold at #1, and Ramon Rodriguez at #3 followed suit, winning in third set tiebreakers. and Yonas Gebre finished the scoring with a 6-4, 6-2 win over Jason Prince at the #6 spot.


"That was a much, much closer match than the score shows," said Bobcat head coach Marc Walters. "We had a real gut check in the doubles, but just like at Edinboro (last weekend) we came up with the goods when we had to have it."


The match took a fateful turn for the 'Cats in the 14th game of the #2 doubles match, where UC's Prince and Gracin held two match points against Ramon Rodriguez and Charalampos Simaioforidis. Simaioforisdis managed to hold serve, and the Bobcat duo broke back in the next game to take the lead. They then served out for the 9-7 win, and gave the 'Cats the lead going into singles.


"UC is always a key MEC match for us, and playing them on the road is no picnic," said Walters. "We showed some poise in tight moments, got great efforts from Lukas Laipold and Harry (Simaioforidis) in key matches, and we were able to fall back on our fitness when we needed it." 


Laipold earned his first win over UC's Ben Lakeman with a 6-1, 6-7 (8), 10-8 nail-biter at the top singles position. Lakeman was 3-0 over Laipold, but Laipold jumped out to fast lead and then weathered the cagey Lakeman's adjustments to pull out the win. Similarly, Rodriguez fought back to grab his singles match in a super-tiebreak despite struggling with his consistency and footwork.


"I may have overdone it in training this past week," said Rodriguez about his inability to find a rythym. "I felt kind of tired after the doubles, and (UC's Tom Andrews) really made me work for everything."


The Bobcats will be off until next Tuesday when they host Fairmont State in Buckhannon at 4pm. The Falcons also remain unbeaten in MEC play, as does West Liberty, where the 'Cats will visit on Friday, April 13th. In between is a road match at Shepherd University.


"Next week will tell us if we have done the work and gotten ourselves ready for the stretch drive," Walters said. "It's been a weird year so far with the weather, but I am proud of these guys for staying focused and conditioning themselves despite the difficulties of getting reps on-court."


==================Box Score=================

West Virginia Wesleyan College vs Univ. of Charleston (West Virginia)

Date:	4/4/2018
Location:	Univ. of Charleston (West Virginia)
Winner:	West Virginia Wesleyan College
Score:	8-1

Position	West Virginia Wesleyan College	Univ. of Charleston (West Virginia)	Winner	Score
#1 Singles	Lukas Laipold	Ben Lakeman	West Virginia Wesleyan College	61 , 67 (8) , 10-8)
#2 Singles	Maycon Santos Dias	Joqo Tayar	West Virginia Wesleyan College	60, 61
#3 Singles	Ramon Rodriguez	Tom Andrews	West Virginia Wesleyan College	67 (5), 63,. 10-7
#4 Singles	Charalampos Simaioforidis	Alek Gracin	West Virginia Wesleyan College	64, 26, 61
#5 Singles	Thomas McIntosh	Rob Berry	West Virginia Wesleyan College	60 62
#6 Singles	Yonas Gebre	Jason Prince	West Virginia Wesleyan College	64 62
#1 Doubles	Yonas Gebre   Maycon Santos Dias	Ben Lakeman   Joqo Tayar	Univ. of Charleston (West Virginia)	97
#2 Doubles	Ramon Rodriguez   Charalampos Simaioforidis	Alek Gracin   Jason Prince	West Virginia Wesleyan College	97
#3 Doubles	Lukas Laipold   Ferran Berga	Rob Berry   Tom Andrews	West Virginia Wesleyan College	86