Men's tennis earns two championship wins at NCWC Fall Invite

Rocky Mount, NC - North Carolina Wesleyan hosted its First Annual Men's Tennis Fall Invitational over the weekend, and the Bishops showed tremendous talent as second-year head coach Dominic Modise had representatives in all three championship matches, winning two. NCWC's Artem Alexandrov won Flight "B" singles over Averett's Samuel Waheeb, while Anton Filinov and Evgeniy Bukatin teamed to down teammates Antti Saari and Alexey Rumyantsev in doubles action.

In Flight "A" singles play, Saari, Bukatin, and Rumyantsev all reached the semifinals for the Bishops.  Saari downed Bukatin 6-2, 6-2 to advance to the championship, while Rumyantsev fell to Averett's Juuso Tapanainen 6-3, 6-1.  Tapanainen proceeded upset top-seeded Saari 7-6 (7-5), 6-3 to take the championship.

In Flight "B" singles play, the Bishops again had three players reach the semifinals with Alexandrov, Brandon Coleman, and Dominic Forsdike all advancing.  Alexandrov earned a championship appearance by forfeit, while Forsdike fell to Averett's Samuel Waheeb 6-2, 6-2.  Alexandrov avenged his teammate's loss with a 5-7, 7-5 retirement win over Waheeb to steal the championship.

In doubles action, it was an "All-Bishop" final as Filinov/Bukatin downed Saari/Rumyansev by retirement.

Overall, Wesleyan finished 12-11 in head-to-head singles play and 7-4 in head-to-head doubles.  The tournament featured 27 players from NCWC, Averett, and Chowan University.

The Battling Bishops will wrap up their 2008 fall season next weekend in Atlanta, GA at the ITA Regional Tournament.