Bluefield State Athletics
Big Blues Tennis Claim First WVIAC Regular Season Title
WEST LIBERTY, W. Va. - Playing four matches in two days, the Bluefield State men’s tennis defeated reigning WVIAC Champions West Virginia Wesleyan College 6-3 and Davis & Elkins College 6-2 Thursday (4/12) and followed that up by sweeping Fairmont State and West Liberty 9-0 Friday (4/13) afternoon to claim the program’s first ever WVIAC regular season title.
In their match against West Virginia Wesleyan, the Big Blues took a 2-1 lead after the doubles matches and received wins in the no. 1 flight from Shikar Kapur, no. 4 match from Conner Pickering, no. 5 match from Niklas Sparr and no. 6 match from Guatam Sreeram to snap the Bobcats 38-match WVIAC regular season win streak.
Later that day Bluefield State took on Davis & Elkins and swept doubles action to take a 3-0 lead into singles play. Vlad Catlan, Pickering and Sparr delivered wins for the Big Blues to claim the match win.
In Friday matches, Bluefield State routed their opponents. In the match against Fairmont State, the Big Blues cruised through doubles play 3-0 and went undefeated in singles defeating their opponents 6-0, 6-0 in all matches.
In their final conference match of the season against West Liberty, BSC continued their strong doubles play sweeping the competition 3-0. In the singles matches it was all Big Blues as they won all matches including Pickering and Sparr who defeated their opponents 6-2, 6-2 and 6-1, 6-1 respectively to go undefeated over the two days.
With the WVIAC regular season championship wrapped up BSC will now set their sights on facing no. 24 Queens College (N.Y.) in the Bloomsburg Duals Saturday afternoon.
