Kansas City, Mo. – The McKendree University men's tennis teams brings home three top 5 finishes at the Rockhurst Invitational this past weekend.

Junior Stepan Mach placed 2^nd in the highest flight of the tournament.  Double partners junior Felix Diedrich and freshman Ignacio Paolini placed 3^rd in their doubles flight, and freshman Riccardo Ercolani placed 5^th in his singles flight.

"I am super encouraged after this weekend. We won more matched the first day this weekend tha we did the entire tournament last year. This tournament is really to people used to match fitness and for freshman to be introduced to college tennis, and we really excelled this weekend. I am very excited for this year, we've got a great group of tennis players!" Head Coach Joost commented on the weekend.

Other bearcats competing this weekend include seniors Bendix Schroder, Luka Kalenic, Aimar Oregui, juniors Giacomo Valerga, Mathijs Aalpol and sophomore Emile Potgens.
 
Men Open Singles Results
Red Draw

• Bendix Schroeder
  • Game 1: Pavlos Parson (Washburn Univ.) L 1-6, 4-6
  • Game 2: Diego Schtulmann (Rockhurst Univ) L 2-4, 0-4
  • Game 3: Yarona Morule (Univ. of Nebraska, Kearney) L 4-5, 0-4
• Stepan Mach
  • Game 1: Yarona Morule (Univ. of Nebraska, Kearney) W 6-3, 7-5
  • Game 2: Oliver Dickason (Rockhurst Univ.) W 2-6, 7-5, 10-3
  • Game 3: Ivan Melnik (Univ. of Nebraska, Kearney) L 2-6, 4-6

Purple Draw

• Ignacio Paolini
  • Game 1: Creed Skinner (Rockhurst Univ.)  W 7-6, 5-7, 10-6
  • Game 2: Tommaso Cecchetti (Washburn Univ) L 1-6, 2-6
  • Game 3: Yuto Miyagawa (Washburn Univ.) L 0-4, 1-4
• Luka Kalenic
  • Game 1: Yuto Miyagawa (Washburn Univ.) L 4-6, 6-4, 2-10
  • Game 2: Alex Tikhonov (Rockhurst Univ.) W 5-3, 4-2

Orange Draw

• Riccardo Ercolani
  • Game 1: Alexi Khamrotau (Rockhurst Univ.) L 1-6, 3-6
  • Game 2: Ilan Fuentes (Univ. of Nebraska, Kearney) W 4-2, 4-3(7)
  • Game 3: Dylan Rainwater (Rockhurst Univ.) W 4-1, 4-0
• Felix Diedrichs 
  • Game 1: Alexandre Jaulin (Univ. of Nebraska, Kearney) L 4-6, 5-7
  • Game 2: Dylan Rainwater (Rockhurst Univ.) W 4-1, 5-4
  • Game 3: Ilan Fuentes (Univ. of Nebraska, Kearney) L 3-5, 0-2 retired

Green Draw

• Giacomo Valerga
  • Game 1: Jakub Strzelecki (Univ. of Nebraska, Kearney) L 2-6, 2-6
  • Game 2: Arnav Gannavaram (Rockhurst Univ.) L 4-6, 5-7
  • Game 3: Mason Fair (Washburn Univ.) W 4-1, 4-1
• Mathijs Aalpol
  • Game 1: Benjamin VanLandingham (Rockhurst Univ.)  W 6-4, 6-3
  • Game 2: Yoshinobu Nakatsuji (Washburn Univ) L 2-6, 6-2, 7-10
• Aimar Oregui
  • Game 1: Yoshinobu Nakatsuji (Washburn Univ.) L 3-6, 4-6
  • Game 2: Benjamin VanLandingham (Rockhurst Univ) W 5-4, 4-1
  • Game 3: Arnav Gannavaram (Rockhurst Univ.) W 6-1, 6-2

Blue Draw

• Emile Potgens
  • Game 1: Arnav Gannavaram (Rockhurst Univ.) L 4-6, 4-6
  • Game 2: Mason Fair (Washburn Univ.) W 4-2, 0-4, 10-7
  • Game 3: Benjamin VanLandingham (Rockhurst Univ) L 5-3, 0-4, 4-10

 
Men Open Doubles Results
Red Draw

• Luka/Bendix
  • Game 1: Carpano/Morule (Univ. of Nebraska, Kearney) L 6-8
  • Game 2: Skinner/Dickason (Rockhurst Univ.) W 6-2
  • Game 3: Faris/Nakatsuji (Washburn Univ) W 7-6
• Stepan/Riccardo
  • Game 1: Tikhonov/Khamrotau (Rockhurst Univ.) L 4-8
  • Game 2: Faris/Nakatsuji (Washburn Univ.) L 3-6
  • Game 3: Skinner/Dickason (Rockhurst Univ.) W 6-3

Blue Draw

• Aimar/Giacomo
  • Game 1: Parson/Miyagawa (Washburn Univ.) L 5-8
  • Game 2: Schtulmann/Gannavaram (Rockhurst Univ.) W 6-4
  • Game 3: Cecchetti/Leipner (Washburn Univ.) W 6-4
• Felix/Ignacio
  • Game 1: Cecchetti/Leipner (Washburn Univ.) W 8-4
  • Game 2: Fair/Pieper(Washburn Univ) L 5-8
  • Game 3: Sahagun/Rainwater (Rockhurst Univ) W 6-4

Purple Draw

• Mathijs/Emile
  • Game 1: Checchetti/Leipner (Washburn Univ.) L 7-8 (7-9)
  • Game 2: Parson/Miyagawa (Washburn Univ.) L 6-7 (1-7)

Up Next:
The Bearcats will host a double header on Wednesday September 17^th against Southwestern Illinois College (9 a.m.) and Maryville University (2:30 p.m) at SWIC's campus.