LEBANON, Ill. – Thanks to a 17-2 overall record and a 5-1 mark in the Great Lakes Valley Conference, the nationally 45th-ranked McKendree men's tennis team earned the No. 2 seed from the East Division in this coming weekend's GLVC Men's Tennis Championships. The eight-team tournament begins play on Friday, April 29 and continues through Sunday, May 1 hosted by Maryville University and held at the Dwight Davis Tennis Center in St. Louis, Mo.

The Bearcats, who are making their seventh straight trip to the GLVC Tournament (the tournament was not held in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic), will open the single elimination tournament with a quarterfinal match at 9 a.m. on April 29 against UMSL, who earned the No. 3 seed from the West Division.

McKendree, who is coached by René Vidal, comes into the GLVC Tournament having ended the regular season with five consecutive victories, including capping the regular season with a 5-2 home win on Saturday over 75th-ranked Maryville University. The Bearcats lone loss in conference play came at home on April 8 to Indianapolis, who the No. 1 seed in the East Division after posting a perfect 6-0 mark in league play and a 16-3 overall record. Since losing a no-conference in-region match in Kansas City, Mo., on March 20 against then 25th-ranked Northwest Missouri State, the Bearcats have posted a 10-1 overall record.

Meanwhile, UMSL, who is 4-10 overall on the season and went 3-2 in GLVC play, comes into the GLVC Tournament having won two straight matches, including concluding the regular season with a 4-1 win at home this past Saturday against William Jewell.

The Bearcats and Tritons will be meeting the second time this season in Friday's quarterfinal round of the GLVC Tournament as the Bearcats picked a 5-2 win at the St. Clair Tennis Center in O'Fallon, Ill., over the Tritons on Feb. 18. Friday's match will be the 18th all-time in the series with UMSL holding a 10-7 advantage, but the Bearcats have won two straight matches over the Tritons.

The 17 wins this season by the Bearcats are the second most in the school's NCAA Division II era as the 2013-14 squad coached by Adam Reeb posted a 19-7 overall record and advanced to the NCAA Men's Tennis Tournament for the first and only time in school history where they lost in the first round to Northwood (Mich.), 5-3. Much like this season, the 2013-14 team opened the GLVC Tournament with a 5-4 win over UMSL, before falling in the semifinals 5-2 to Indianapolis and then losing 5-4 in the third place match to Southern Indiana.

Ironically, that win over UMSL in the quarterfinals of the 2014 GLVC Tournament is McKendree's lone win in their previous six appearances in the tournament. The Bearcats are 1-8 all-time in the GLVC Tournament, including falling 4-0 in the quarterfinal round of last year's tournament to Southwest Baptist, who was the No. 1 seed from the West Division.

McKendree success this season can be traced to their strong play in singles as the Bearcats went 28-8 in singles play during GLVC action and has posted a 103-32 overall record in singles on the year. Leading the way in singles play this season has been junior Leonardo Frederico (Tijucas-Santa Cantrina, Brazil/Unicesumar) as he went a perfect 6-0 in GLVC singles play at the No. 1 spot in the line-up and is sporting an 18-4 overall record and is ranked 58th nationally by the ITA in singles. Frederico enters the GLVC Tournament having won 10 consecutive singles matches.

In addition to Frederico, three other Bearcats have posted double-digit wins in singles as graduate student Boriss Kamdem (Ghent, Belgium/University of Tulsa) went 4-2 in GLVC singles play at the No. 2 spot and is 15-5 overall in singles on the year and is ranked 45th nationally in singles by the ITA. Sophomore Julappagari Anurag Reddy (Dubai, UAE/CBSE School Nationals) went 4-2 at No. 4 singles in GLVC play and is sporting a 15-4 overall record in singles and sophomore Subash Paramasivan (Chennai, Tamil India/Saraswathi Kendra) went 3-3 at No. 3 singles in GLVC play and is sporting an 11-7 overall record in the singles on the year.

Senior Vishnu Prasad (Chennai, India/National Institute of Open Schooling) went 6-0 in singles in GLVC play, including being 4-0 at the No. 4 spot and 2-0 at the No. 6 spot and is sporting an 8-1 record overall in singles on the season.

Meanwhile, in doubles, the Bearcats went 9-9 in doubles during GLVC action and is 35-32 overall in doubles on the season. The No. 1 doubles team of Frederico and Kamdem went 3-3 in GLVC doubles play and is 16-4 overall on the season and is ranked 32nd by the ITA in Division II doubles. The No. 2 team of Prasad and Paramasivan went 4-2 in GLVC doubles and the No. 3 team of Reddy and junior Lorenzo del Biondo (Pescora, Italy/Abraham Baldwin College) went 2-1 in GLVC doubles at the No. 3 spot.  

The Bearcats are one of seven nationally-ranked teams in the most recent ITA Division II Rankings sponsored by Tennis-Point competing in this year's GLVC Tournament as UIndy is the highest ranked team at No. 11, while Lewis, who is the No. 3 seed from the East Division, is ranked 49th, Drury, who is the No. 1 seed from the West, is ranked 56th, Southwest Baptist, who is the No. 2 seed from the West, is ranked 57th, Rockhurst, who is the No. 4 seed from the West, is ranked 64th and Maryville, who is the No. 4 seed from the East, is ranked 75th.

Once again this season, the GLVC Men's Tennis Championships will be streamed live and free on all the GLVC Sports Network platforms.

Southwest Baptist is the defending GLVC Tournament champions on the men's side. UIndy has won 12 all-time GLVC Tournament titles, while former league member Bellarmine won eight tournament titles. Southern Indiana and Drury have each won seven apiece.

The winner of the GLVC Tournament will earn the league's automatic bid into the NCAA Division II Men's Tennis Championships.

Here is the complete schedule for the 2022 GLVC Men's Tennis Tournament.
Friday, April 29 – Quarterfinals
Match 1 - #1E Indianapolis vs. #4W Rockhurst, 9 a.m.
Match 2 - #2W Southwest Baptist vs. #3E Lewis, 9 a.m.
Match 3 - #1W Drury vs. #4E Maryville, 9 a.m.
Match 4 - #2E McKendree vs. #3E UMSL, 9 a.m.
Saturday, April 30 – Semifinals
Match 5 – Winner Match 1 vs. Winner Match 2, 9 a.m.
Match 6 – Winner Match 3 vs. Winner Match 4, 9 a.m.
Sunday, May 1 – Finals
Match 7 (Championship) – Winner Match 5 vs. Winner Match 6, 9 a.m.