ROME, Ga. -- Southeastern University's men's and women's tennis programs recorded several victories in singles and doubles competition during tournament play from October 15–17, highlighted by Piero Fernandez's singles quarterfinal appearance and multiple doubles victories across both programs.
Men's Singles
Piero Fernandez opened singles competition on October 15 with a commanding 6–1, 6–1 victory over Karan Srivastava of Hope International in the Round of 16.
Fernandez advanced to the quarterfinals on October 16, where he faced top-seeded Christian Sanchez. After claiming the opening set 6–3, Fernandez dropped a tightly contested second set 7–5 before Sanchez secured the deciding set 6–1.
He returned to action in consolation the next day against Mete Koseoglu of Huntington. After dropping the opening set 6–4, Fernandez responded with consecutive 6–2 and 6–1 victories to close his singles tournament with a win.
Men's Doubles
Southeastern's Alejandro Bancalari and Piero Fernandez opened doubles competition with a three-set victory over Dillard's Siddarth Arya Sangheeth and Tarique Tonge. The Fire duo captured the opening set 6–4, dropped the second 6–1, claiming the third in a 10-5 tiebreak.
The pair advanced to the quarterfinals on October 16, where fourth-seeded Facundo Grasso and Tadeo David Ramirez from Lindsey Wilson earned a 6–2, 6–2 victory.
Bancalari and Fernandez rebounded in consolation play on October 17, defeating Huntington's Julian Tantera and Francisco Javier Lopez Real in straight sets, 7–6 (7-5), 6-4.
Pedro De la Riva and Gonzalo Fernandez also represented Southeastern in men's doubles competition. The pair opened with a 6–2, 6–4 victory over Tennessee Wesleyan University's Lucca Guercio and Santiago Jose Russo in the Round of 16.
In the quarterfinals, De la Riva and Fernandez faced Nicolas Philibert and Mariano Alberto Hasenkopf from Georgia Gwinnett. Southeastern claimed the opening set 6–4 before falling 6–4 in the second. Philibert and Hasenkopf prevailed 12–10 in the decider. The Grizzly duo went on to win the entire tournament.
De la Riva and Fernandez concluded their tournament with a consolation victory over Francisco Duran and Kacper Laskowski of New College of Florida. After dropping the opening set 6–1, the Fire duo responded with a 6–3 second-set victory and captured the tiebreak 10–6.
Women's Doubles
On the women's side, Esma-Nur Dodooglu and Maria Bylina began competition with a 6–4, 6–4 victory over Kseniya Zhdanok and Lucia Siddens of Texas A&M University–Texarkana in the Round of 16
The Southeastern pair advanced to the quarterfinals, where they faced fourth-seeded Zeynep Sila Ege and Paulina Hudson. Dodooglu and Bylina narrowly dropped the opening set 7–6 (7-2) in the first-set tiebreak. They responded with a 6–4 second-set victory before their opponents secured the match 10–7 in the tiebreak.
Dodooglu and Bylina returned for consolation competition against second-seeded Ceylin Ipek and Emily Kim of Keiser . Despite dropping the opening set 6–2, the Fire tandem rallied to win the second set 6–4 and claimed match 10–6 in the decider. Claiming back a loss from the ITA Florida Regional Championships.
The Fire now take off to the Rollins Invite, where they will scrimmage multiple programs from NCAA DII and the NAIA in a round-robin type setting.
