Lexington, Va. - The Battling Bishop men's tennis team advanced to the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Tournament with a 5-3 victory over host Washington & Lee University on Saturday morning in Lexington.
Wesleyan took a 2-1 lead in doubles play as the duos of Robert Kjellberg/Sebastian Sikh and Fabio Pereira/Andres Gomez posted 8-6 and 8-1 wins at #1 and #3, respectively. NCWC narrowly missed the sweep, but the Generals were able to edge the Bishops by a 9-7 tally at the 2nd seed.
In singles play, freshman Fernando Nardelli made it 3-1 with a straight-set win at the 4th slot (6-2, 6-4). W&L made things interesting, however, with upsets at the top two positions that sandwiched a victory at #5 by Gomez (6-4, 6-3). With Wesleyan up 4-3, freshman Fabio Pereira proceeded to clinch the match with a three-set victory at #3 (2-6, 6-1, 6-3).
Wesleyan (17-5) advances to play 4th-ranked Emory University on Sunday morning at 11:00am. Sunday's winner advances to the national quarterfinals in Mason, Ohio on May 18th.