CHARLESTON, W.Va. — West Virginia Wesleyan's men's tennis team opened NCAA Division II Atlantic 1 Regional play with a 4-1 first-round victory over Davis & Elkins before seeing its postseason run end in a 4-0 second-round loss to host University of Charleston. Wesleyan entered the regional as the No. 5 seed, drawing No. 4 Davis & Elkins in the opening round, while No. 1 Charleston hosted the Atlantic Region 1 bracket.
 
The Bobcats set the tone in the opener by taking the doubles point from the Senators. Timothe Plaza and Daniel Podoprygora struck first at No. 3 doubles, earning a 6-3 win over Filippo Buffo and Simon Kiekbeld. Davis & Elkins answered at No. 1, where Philipp Fedorczuk and Justus Petersilie defeated Felipe Mioch and Jheng Min Huang, 6-3. The decisive doubles result came at No. 2, where Stefans Audrins and Hugo Poulain battled to a 7-5 victory over Christopher Wirahadipoernomo and Tom Strohschein to give Wesleyan a 1-0 lead.
 
Wesleyan carried that momentum into singles play. Audrins delivered the Bobcats' first singles point at No. 2, defeating Petersilie 6-2, 6-3. Poulain followed at No. 3 with another straight-set win, taking down Wirahadipoernomo 6-2, 6-4, pushing Wesleyan in front 3-0.
 
Davis & Elkins got on the board at No. 1 singles, where Fedorczuk defeated Mioch 6-3, 6-2. But the Bobcats closed the match at No. 6, as Leandro Aranda handled Santiago Ordonez 6-2, 6-4 to clinch the 4-1 regional-opening victory.
 
Two singles matches were unfinished after the team result was decided. At No. 4, Min Huang had taken the opening set in a tiebreak and was even at 4-4 in the second against Strohschein. At No. 5, Plaza had split sets with Buffo and was in the early stages of the third set when play was halted.
 
The win advanced Wesleyan to the second round against Charleston, the region's top seed. The Golden Eagles grabbed control early by taking the doubles point. Vicente Garcia and Omar Elsamahy won 6-0 at No. 1 doubles over Mioch and Min Huang, while Alberto Nordio and Nils Pottbecker secured the point with a 6-1 win at No. 3 over Plaza and Podoprygora. Wesleyan's No. 2 team of Audrins and Poulain was leading Elias Lagger and Batsomi Marobela 5-3 when the doubles point was clinched.
 
Charleston then finished the match with three singles victories. Pottbecker defeated Min Huang 6-3, 6-3 at No. 4 singles, and Elsamahy followed with a 6-3, 6-2 win over Audrins at No. 2. Nordio clinched the match at No. 5 singles, defeating Plaza 6-4, 6-4 to give Charleston the 4-0 victory.
 
Despite the final score, Wesleyan had several strong positions in unfinished singles matches. Mioch was leading Garcia 6-2, 4-3 at No. 1 singles when play stopped. Poulain had taken the opening set from Lagger 6-3 at No. 3 before trailing 5-2 in the second. Aranda also forced a deciding frame at No. 6, answering a 6-4 first-set loss to Marcelo Pinto with a dominant 6-1 second set before the match was abandoned early in the third.
 
Wesleyan's postseason run included a regional win over Davis & Elkins and a second-round appearance against one of the Atlantic Region's top programs. The NCAA preliminary rounds were scheduled for May 11-12 at regional sites, with regional winners advancing to the national finals in Surprise, Arizona.
 
Match Results
First Round: West Virginia Wesleyan 4, Davis & Elkins 1
Doubles
No. 1: Fedorczuk/Petersilie def. Mioch/Min Huang, 6-3
No. 2: Audrins/Poulain def. Wirahadipoernomo/Strohschein, 7-5
No. 3: Plaza/Podoprygora def. Buffo/Kiekbeld, 6-3
 
Singles
No. 1: Fedorczuk def. Mioch, 6-3, 6-2
No. 2: Audrins def. Petersilie, 6-2, 6-3
No. 3: Poulain def. Wirahadipoernomo, 6-2, 6-4
No. 4: Min Huang vs. Strohschein, unfinished
No. 5: Plaza vs. Buffo, unfinished
No. 6: Aranda def. Ordonez, 6-2, 6-4
 
 
Second Round: Charleston 4, West Virginia Wesleyan 0
Doubles
No. 1: Garcia/Elsamahy def. Mioch/Min Huang, 6-0
No. 2: Audrins/Poulain vs. Lagger/Marobela, unfinished
No. 3: Nordio/Pottbecker def. Plaza/Podoprygora, 6-1
 
Singles
No. 1: Mioch vs. Garcia, unfinished
No. 2: Elsamahy def. Audrins, 6-3, 6-2
No. 3: Poulain vs. Lagger, unfinished
No. 4: Pottbecker def. Min Huang, 6-3, 6-3
No. 5: Nordio def. Plaza, 6-4, 6-4
No. 6: Aranda vs. Pinto, unfinished