Fredericksburg, Va.—The University of Mary Washington men's tennis team had a strong showing at the annual UMW Kickoff Classic. The Eagles had four players go undefeated in singles play. Washington & Lee, George Mason and N.C. Wesleyan joined Mary Washington at the Classic.
Alex Blakhin (Moscow, Russia/Saddlebrook Prep (Fla.)] was the first Eagle to go 3-0 in singles competition. Blakhin defeated N.C. Wesleyan's Panayot Kusidi (6-1, 6-0) and W&L's Thomas Johnson (2-6, 7-5, 6-3) on Saturday. Blakhin knocked off George Mason's Chris Borden; 7-5, 6-4 on Sunday to complete the sweep. David Lunding-Johansson (Stockholm, Sweden/Djursholm) also went perfect on the weekend, earning wins over Mikhail Konnov of NCW (6-1, 6-2), Brian Krouskos of W&L (6-0, 6-3) and Conor Moran of GMU (6-2, 4-6, 6-2).
Two Eagle freshmen, Brandon Griffin and Alexander Cragg also went 3-0 in their collegiate debut. Griffin won 6-2, 6-4 over Robert Conley of W&L, 7-5, 6-0 over Conor Moran of GMU and 4-6, 6-4, 6-2 over Eduardo Ugalde of NCW. Cragg earned victories of 6-1, 6-3 and 6-1, 6-1 over a pair of NCW competitors.
Stratton Gilmore earned a 6-4, 6-3 win over NCW's Jordan Kranser on Saturday. Gilmore defeated Peter Hviid of NCW 2-6, 6-3, 6-3 on Sunday. Kaleb Nguyen, Tyler Carey, Evan Charles, Scott Buie, Andrew Curtis and Marcell Rengifo also picked up wins on Saturday and Sunday.
Four doubles combos picked up at least one win this weekend. The tandem of Stratton Gilmore and Kaleb Nguyen defeated Johnson/Conley from Washington & Lee, 8-6 on Saturday. In addition, on Saturday the team of Brandon Griffin and Andrew Curtis downed Moran/Capitel from GMU, 8-5. The Eagle pairing of Blakhin and Lunding-Johannson get a win on Sunday, defeating Kranser/Krouskos of W&L, 8-5 and Uglade/Kusidi of NCW 9-7. The pair of Scott Buie and Marcell Rengifo picked up a victory on Sunday over Glumov and Tolhurst from NCW 8-4.
The men's tennis team returns to action this weekend. The team will travel to Fairfax, Va. to take part in the George Mason Invitational, starting on September 21st.