CHARLESTON, W. VA. – The University of Charleston Men's Tennis Double of Ben Lakeman and Joao Tayar finished 11^th in the 2019-20 Final ITA NCAA Division II Men's National Fall Rankings. In addition, the duo finished the fall season ranked #1 in the Atlantic Region and to date, is the first pair from the University of Charleston Men's team to advance to the ITA Cup. In order to advance to the ITA Cup, Lakeman and Tayar defeated Golden Eagle teammates Alek Gracin and Jason Prince in the Regional Finale. Gracin and Prince finished the fall ranked 4^th in the Atlantic Region.
 
The pair of Lakeman and Tayar went on an eight-match win streak this fall to get themselves into the ITA Cup where they fell in the first round to ITA National Runner-up Matei Avram and Alvaro Regalado from Columbus State by a score of 6-4, 6-2.
 
Lakeman and Tayar went on to take a second-round victory over the UC San Diego pair of Zach Ermet and Sreeganesh Manoharan in three sets, 6-2, 4-6, 10-6 for the first ever UC Men's Tennis win at ITA nationals.
 
In the final match, the pair defeated Matteo Gostoli and Roy Stepanov from Wingate University by a score of 6-4, 7-5 to secure the 11^th ranked spot in the country going into the spring campaign.

Full ITA Fall Rankings Below: