Fredericksburg, Va. - The men's tennis team of North Carolina Wesleyan opened its fall season over the weekend at the University of Mary Washington Invitational. In addition Wesleyan, the tourney featured a competitive field of players from UMW, Christopher Newport, George Mason and Washington & Lee. The Bishops were led by freshman Fernando Nardelli, who tallied a trio of doubles victories and was one of four Bishops to win in singles play.

As a team, Wesleyan posted a 9-5 record in doubles play, led by Nardelli's 3-0 mark. He teamed with junior Eduardo Ugalde for an 8-3 over CNU and later joined freshman teammate Carlos Ponte for 9-8 and 8-6 wins versus W&L and GMU, respectively.

Also fairing well in doubles action were the duos of Robert Kjellberg/Sebastian Sikh, Gleb Gisis/Philipp Vylegzhanin and Mikhail Konnov/Fabio Pereira, who all handedly won their matches. Konnov was also a winner with Sikh, while Ugalde and Pereira teamed for a victory as well. The tandem of Ben Tolhurst/David Chang rounded out NCWC players collecting doubles wins.

In singles play, Nardelli's win came in a straight-set performance versus Max Katcher of CNU. Tolhurst was also a straight-set winner against CNU, with Gisis and Pereira each earning victories over players from Mary Washington.

Next up for the Bishops is ITA Fall Regional play hosted by Emory University in Atlanta, Ga. The three-day event kicks off on Friday, September 26th and runs through Sunday, September 29th.