Battling Bishop men & women split pair of weekend matches

Rocky Mount, NC - The Battling Bishop men's and women's tennis teams of North Carolina Wesleyan split a pair of weekend matches on Saturday and Sunday at Shenandoah University and Roanoke College, respectively. Wesleyan's men opened up USA South play with a 9-0 sweep of the Hornets on Saturday, while the Bishop women dropped an 8-1 decision. The 26th-ranked men proceeded to keep their perfect record in tact by turning in another 9-0 win on Sunday over Roanoke, but unfortunately, the women again fell by an 8-1 score.

On Saturday at Shenandoah, the Bishop men posted a 3-0 advantage in doubles play as all three seeds recorded 8-1 wins. Antti Saari/Alexey Rumyantsev were winners at the first seed, as were Davit Minasyan/Marcelo Prata and Evgeniy Bukatin/Ludvig Wahlund at the second and third slots.

In singles play, all six seeds earned straight-set victories as the Bishops dropped just four games on the day. Minasyan, Prata, Anton Filonov, Fred Lemongo, Artem Alexandrov, and Dustin Hale were winners at one through six, respectively, to secure the sweep.

On the women's side, the Hornets raced out to a 3-0 advantage in doubles play and went on to take five of six singles matches en route to the 8-1 victory. Wesleyan's lone point came at #6 singles where junior Juliana Richardson downed SU's Bridget O'Rourke 1-6, 6-1, 10-4.

On Sunday at Roanoke, Wesleyan's men turned in a near-identical performance the Bishops forged an early 3-0 advantage in doubles play. Saari/Rumyantsev were 8-1 winners at the top, while Minasyan/Prata won 8-2 at the second seed. Filonov/Ilpo Kautonen picked up their first doubles win of the weekend with an 8-3 victory at #3.

Like the previous day, the Bishops again ran the table with six straight-set victories in singles play as Saari, Rumyantsev, Minasyan, Filonov, Lemongo, and Bukatin did the honors.

In the women's match, the Bishop tandem of Jaime Galasso and Leila Heinonen narrowly missed a win at #1 doubles, dropping an 8-6 decision to RC's Kristin Nagy/Kelsey White.  Roanoke went on to take a 3-0 lead by turning in a doubles sweep.

Galasso later lost a three-set thriller to Nagy at #1 singles by a 12-10 score in the decisive third set.  Heinonen earned NCWC's lone point with a 6-4, 7-6 (11-9) win at the second seed.

The Bishop women had previously been swept by Meredith earlier in the week, 9-0, and now stand at 1-6 overall, 0-2 in USA South play. They will host Peace College on Wednesday at 3:00 p.m.

Wesleyan's men currently boast a 7-0 record, including a 1-0 league mark and the program's first national ranking. They will host Shaw University on Friday at 2:00 p.m.