BOLIVAR, Mo. – The McKendree men's tennis team continued play here Saturday on the second day of the Southwest Baptist Invitational held at SBU's John A. Bryant Tennis Center.
 
In Saturday's second day of action, the Bearcats posted a 10-6 record and will have one player competing in the Men's 'B' Singles Draw final on Sunday and three of their doubles teams playing in final of the Men's Doubles 'A' and 'B' Draw.
 
In the 'B' Singles Draw, junior Nanase Ebisu (Osaka, Japan/Hawaii Pacific) went 2-0 to advance to Sunday's final against Harding's Cas de Ruiter. In Saturday's play, Ebisu picked up a 4-0, 4-1 win over his fellow Bearcat teammate, sophomore Charlie Sanzo (Bristol, England/Fullerton College) and then picked a 5-4 (3), 2-0 ret. win over another teammate, senior Ryan Fung (Miami, Fla./Miami Palmetto Senior), who defeated sophomore Jose Antonio Velasco (Lima, Peru) in the quarterfinals.
 
Meanwhile, in the 'A' Singles Draw, the Bearcats went 2-2 in Saturday's action as senior Leonardo Frederico won his quarterfinal match over Southwest Baptist's Makary Adamek, 1-4, 4-0. 10-7, before suffering a 6-3, 6-3 loss in the semifinals against Harding's Dani Ortiz.
 
Sophomore Tomas Leston (Buenos Aires, Argentina/San Jose Hermanas Nuestra Senora del Rosario) opened Saturday's play with a quarterfinal win over Southwest Baptist's Youssef Nabil, 1-4, 4-1, 11-9, before falling in the semifinals against Harding's Teodor Zlatar, 6-3, 6-4. Zlatar advanced to the semifinals with a 4-2, 2-4, 12-10 quarterfinal win over freshman Benedek Szombathelyi (Budapest, Hungary/Hunfalvy Janos Bilingual Vocational School) 
 
Frederico and Szombathelyi will face the team of senior Lorenzo del Biondo (Pescara, Italy/Abraham Baldwin College) and Ebisu, who opened the day with a walkover win over Harding's Ortiz and Milosh Petrovic, before picking up an 8-5 win in the semifinals over Nabil and Nunez.
 
Meanwhile, in the 'B' Doubles Draw, the Bearcats went 2-1 on Saturday as sophomore Tomas Leston (Buenos Aires, Argentina/San Jose Hermanas Nuestra Senora del Rosario) and senior Ryan Fung (Miami, Fla./Miami Palmetto Senior) picked up an 8-7 (4) win over UMSL's duo of Anthony Borrows and Raphael Kerndl, before earning an 8-5 win over Harding's duo of de Ruiter and Bryce Walker in the semifinals to earn a spot in Sunday's final.
 
The other Bearcat doubles teams to play in the 'B' Draw on Saturday were sophomore David Leon Mantilla (Lima, Peru/Colegio Parroquial Santa Rose de Lima) and Velasco and Sanzo and freshman Ian Ramiro Perez Rodriguez (Los Cabos, Mexico/SEJV). Mantilla and Velasco fell 8-6 in the quarterfinals to Ricard Jove and Jayden Van Vreden, while Sanzo and Perez Rodriguez lost 8-3 to de Ruiter and Walker.
 
The Southwest Baptist Invitational continues through Sunday, Sept. 11.