Men's Tennis | 10/7/2022 7:46:00 PM
ROCKY MOUNT, N.C. Methodist's men's tennis team wrapped up their first day of the 2022 Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) Men's South Regional Championships, hosted by North Carolina Wesleyan University, on October 7. The day consisted of the Monarchs playing in both singles and doubles competition.
The morning started out with singles action in both Draw A and B brackets, with four Methodist tennis players participating in A and two in B. For the A bracket, freshman
Ollie Custer fell in his opening match 6-1, 6-0 to send him to the consolation side of his respective bracket. With where he was positioned in consolation A, he received a bye in the round of 32 and his next match will be in the round of 16 on Saturday morning.
Wills Belser and
Andrew Wood were also victims of losing their first match of the day. Belser actually took the first set 6-3 before his opponent came back to take the last two by a pair of 6-3 scores. His singles play came to an end in the consolation round 32 after falling 6-2, 6-4. Wood was defeated 6-1, 6-2 in his opening match then followed that up with another loss, 6-1 in both sets, to conclude his singles play.
The lone Monarch to win his opening round and advance in the championship bracket of A was
Matthew Hurley. Hurley would drop his first set 6-2 but battled back and took the next two with identical scores of 6-3. In the round of 32, Hurley played valiantly but ultimately lost 7-5, 7-6 (7-5).
The B bracket of singles did not fare any better for the remaining two Methodist players,
Will Trocchi and
Evan Kane. After falling in his first set 6-2, Trocchi won the second by a 6-3 margin to force a tiebreaker but still found himself on the losing end 10-5. His final singles match witness him falling by a pair of 7-5 scores. Kane's opening match saw him fall 6-0, 6-1 and then later again in his final singles match, 6-4, 6-1.
Custer and Belser teamed up for the start of doubles action for the A bracket. The duo dropped both matches they played in together by the same score of 8-2. In the B bracket of doubles was Trocchi and Kane, the got swept 8-0 in their first match then fell 8-2 in the next one. Their doubles campaign at the ITAs are not over through as the two play one final match on Saturday afternoon, scheduled for 1 PM.
Making it to the quarterfinals round of the A bracket championships was the pair of Hurley and Wood. First they won their opening match 8-5 before having to play a tightly contested second game. The second one was forced to be decided in a tiebreaker, where Hurley and Wood took it 7-2 to claim the match victory at 8-7. Just like Trocchi and Kane, Hurley and Wood are squared to continue tomorrow at 1 PM.
