Harrogate, TN – After having to wait a day to begin the season, the Lincoln Memorial Men's Tennis team showed out in the season opener, sweeping their two matchups against West Virginia Wesleyan College and King University, with a 5-2 win over West Virginia Wesleyan and a 6-1 victory over King. 

Starting in doubles play, Hugo Ruiz Espejo and Alexandru Rares Giurea set the tone by dominating their competition from West Virginia Wesleyan. The pair of splitters jumped out to a commanding lead, taking the first five points of the match to hold a 5-0 lead. The Bobcats pair would keep their day alive, but Ruiz Espejo and Giurea polished off the win to take a 6-1 match victory.  

The second doubles match would prove a battle for the Splitters, but Lincoln Memorial would come out on top, with the pairing of Victor Bourguignon and Sergio Sebastian Aranzeta Boneta fighting for a 6-4 win. The Railsplitters and Bobcats traded points early in the match, but the Splitters pair pulled ahead with an eventual 5-3 lead after falling behind 1-2.  

LMU would finish the doubles sweep on the third-doubles court, as the pairing of Ethan Hirons and Radu Florea took a straight set victory over the Bobcats. After alternating serves to start the set, Florea and Hirons took the last three serves to finish the 6-0 win, taking the doubles point in the match.  

The Railsplitters would take four of the six singles draws, highlighted by Hirons out of the second draw taking straight sets and Giurea allowing just four total points against him, wining 6-1 and 6-3 in the third draw. 

In the fifth draw, Bourguignon battled in the first set, going back and forth with his opponent before coming away with a 7-6 first-set victory, eventually sweeping the match.  

Kai Miyatake finished the first win for the Splitters, going 6-3 in both sets to finish the Railsplitters 5-2 win in the opener.  

Lincoln Memorial finished the day by dominating King, finishing the match that was postponed from Saturday.  

In doubles play, the Splitters took two of the three matches from the Tornado, with the second and third pairing from Lincoln Memorial securing the doubles point for the Railsplitters.  

Moving into singles play, Hirons allowed just four total points, taking both sets 6-2 from his opponent as he improved to 2-0 in the opener. Miyatake followed Hirons' performance by allowing just one point against him, taking a 6-0 win in the first set before a 6-1 set in the second to secure a Railsplitters win.  

The highlight of singles play from the Splitters was Bourguignon, who dominated to the tune of two 6-0 wins over King in a straight-sets-sweep of the Tornado in the third draw.  

Patricio Garcia and Sandro Pacheco Perez finished the win for the Railsplitters, each taking the win in straight sets to give Lincoln Memorial a 6-1 win, starting the season 2-0. 

The Railsplitters are back in action on Friday, as Johnson University comes to Harrogate on Friday before Young Harris travels on Saturday.  

Results 

West Virginia Wesleyan 

Doubles 

#1: Alexandru Rares Giurea/Hugo Ruiz Espejo vs Jheng Huang/Felipe Mioch: 6-1 

#2: Victor Bourguignon/Sergio Sebastian Aranzeta Boneta vs Stefan Audrins/Daniel Podoprygora: 6-4 

#3: Ethan Hirons/Radu Florea vs Timothe Plaza/Hugo Poulain: 6-0 

Singles 

#1: Radu Florea vs Felipe Mioch: 4-6, 5-7 

#2: Ethan Hirons vs Stefan Audrins: 6-5, 6-4 

#3: Alexandru Rares Giurea vs Hugo Poulain: 6-1, 6-3 

#4: Sergio Sebastian Aranzeta Boneta vs Jheng Huang: 3-6, 6-3, 2-6 

#5: Victor Bourguignon vs Timothe Plaza: 7-6, 6-3 

#6: Kai Miyatake vs Pedro Roschel: 6-3, 6-3 

King 

Doubles 

#1: Hugo Ruiz Espejo/Alexandru Rares Giurea vs Lucas Machado/Danny Neleman: 5-7 

#2: Victor Bourguignon/Sergio Sebastian Aranzeta Boneta vs Rohan Chalisgaonkar/Bar Meshal: 6-4 

#3: Radu Flora/Ethan Hirons vs Ben Jones/Maximillian Kellner: 6-1  

Singles 

#1: Ethan Hirons vs Danny Neleman: 6-2, 6-2 

#2: Sergio Sebastian Aranzeta Boneta vs Bar Meshel: 4-6, 6-2, 0-1 (10-12) 

#3: Victor Bourguignon vs Lucas Machado: 6-0, 6-0 

#4: Kai Miyatake vs Rohan Chalisgaonkar: 6-0, 6-1 

#5: Patricio Garcia vs Ben Jones: 6-1, 6-2 

#6: Sandro Pacheco Perez vs Maximillian Kellner: 6-0, 6-2