The Shepherd Rams men’s tennis team, the sixth seed heading into the MEC Tournament, finished its season with a 5-0 match defeat to the University of Charleston Golden Eagles on Friday afternoon in the quarterfinal round of the MEC Tournament in Huntington, West Virginia.
Shepherd finishes its season with an overall record of 8-11 and 2-5 in the MEC, while Charleston improved its record to 7-12 on the season. The Golden Eagles, the third seed in the tournament, will advance to play Fairmont State on Saturday afternoon, April 21, while the Rams must look ahead to next season.
There were three doubles matches and two singles matchups that were all taken by Charleston on the afternoon. In the first doubles match of the afternoon, Rams sophomore Carter Davis and freshman Evan Dokken recorded an 8-4 loss to the Golden Eagles’ tandem of sophomore Ben Lakeman and freshman Joao Tayar.
Shepherd freshman Nicholas Ferony and senior Lewis Charette lost the second doubles matchup against the sophomore Alek Gracin and freshman Thomas Andrews combo of Charleston in what proved to be an off day for the team as a whole. The Golden Eagle duo won the match by an 8-0 score.
In the last doubles match of the day, Rams junior Clayton Smith and sophomore Kaleb Lochner fell to sophomore Jason Prince and partner Elliot Le Petit, a sophomore, in what was the closest game of the day with an 8-5 final score.
The final two matches of the tournament series were singles matches that saw Lochner and Charette compete against Andrews and Gracin of the Golden Eagles, respectively. Both lost in two straight sets by 6-0, 6-0 scores.
It was the final game for Rams seniors Charette and Austin Thomas, as their careers came to a close just a few games short of the ultimate goal of winning the MEC Championship.
Vaughn Brewer is a sports writer for The Picket. He can be reached at vbrewe01@rams.shepherd.edu