CHARLESTON, W.Va. - For the second consecutive season West Virginia Wesleyan College has knocked the Golden Eagles out of the Mountain East Conference Men's Tennis Championships defeating UC 5-3 in the semifinal round Saturday afternoon at Schoenbaum Tennis Courts.

Charleston rallied for come-from-behind wins in two of the three doubles matches to carry a 2-1 match advantage into singles play and seemed to carry the momentum along with them.  After losing at third doubles, the team of James Gammell and Jacob Lorenz battled back for an 8-6 win at #2 doubles to tie the score then was followed by Alec Foote and Dennis Okoth winning by the same margin at #1 doubles.

The Bobcats responded quickly in singles play, notching victories at #4 & #5 singles over Lorenz and Nicholas Bakos to reclaim a 3-2 match lead with four courts remaining undecided.  Charleston's Okoth evened the match at 3-3 with a decisive 6-2, 6-2 win at #3 singles to set up a dramatic finish at courts one and two.

After splitting the first two sets on each of the courts, Wesleyan's Joel Izquierdo and Jacobo Rendon overcame a pro UC crowd to claim the third set of each match over Foote and Gammell to give the Bobcats a 5-3 win and a berth into the MEC Championship versus West Liberty University.

Charleston finishes the season at 13-5 and now awaits word on their NCAA Atlantic Regional Tournament fate.  UC entered the MEC Championships ranked fifth in the Atlantic Region.

Doubles
Foote/Okoth (UC) def. Izquierdo/Reparaz (WVWC) 8-6
Gammell/Lorenz (UC) def. Oliveria/Fernandez (WVWC) 8-6
Savill/Rendon (WVWC) def. Shah/Bakos (UC) 8-3

Singles
Joel Izquierdo (WVWC) def. Alec Foote (UC) 6-3, 0-6, 6-3
Jacabo Rendon (WVWC) def. James Gammell (UC) 6-2, 4-6, 6-4
Dennis Okoth (UC) def. Ferran Berga (WVWC) 6-2, 6-2
Ramon Rodriguez (WVWC) def. Jake Lorenz (UC) 6-0, 6-0
Aitor Reparaz (WVWC) def. Nick Bakos (UC) 6-0, 6-1