Fredericksburg, Va. - The 12th-ranked N.C. Wesleyan men's tennis team opened its spring season over the weekend at a quad-meet hosted by the University of Mary Washington. The Bishops dropped their opener to 17th-ranked Case Western on Saturday, but bounced back for an impressive 6-3 win over the host Eagles, who are currently ranked #21 nationally. NCWC wrapped up the weekend with a 7-2 victory over Vassar College to move to 2-1 on the season.

Versus #17 Case Western, Wesleyan scratched points at #1 doubles as Robert Kjellberg and Artsiom Prostak teamed for a 9-7 win.  Those same two were winners and #1 and #2 singles in straights, respectively. The match was much closer than the final score might have indicated as NCWC's two doubles losses came by 8-5 and 8-6 tallies, while freshman Johan Ljungdahl went three sets at #3 singles.

Against #21 UMW, the Bishops took a 2-1 lead in doubles play thanks to wins by Kjellberg/Prostak at the top seed (8-1) and Mikhail Konnov/Marcus Pola at the three seed (9-8). Kjellberg, Prostak and Ljungdahl went on to dominate at the top three singles slots, while Pola was also a straight-set winner at #6.

Finally, Wesleyan cruised to a 7-2 win over Vassar to conclude play. The scoresheet was nearly identical to that of the UMW match, with Konnov picking up his first singles win at the 5th slot to secure NCWC's seventh point.

Said NCWC head coach Worth Richarson, "Our lack of experience showed in the first match against Case Western as we failed to take advantage of opportunities, but the Bishops rebounded well. Their confidence is growing every match and we are excited to head to the ITA Indoor Championships next weekend."