MEN'S TENNIS COMPLETES RICHMOND INVITATIONAL

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RICHMOND, Va. – The Radford men's tennis team went head-to-head with numerous schools in the region and came out looking strong at the Richmond Invitational this weekend.

Hosted by the Richmond Spiders, the Richmond Invitational featured Charlotte, Campbell, JMU, Old Dominion, VCU, Howard, Georgetown, East Carolina, College of Charleston, William & Mary and Longwood.

By the end of the three-day tournament, Radford would have wins against nine of those schools.

DAY ONE HIGHLIGHTS
Freshman William Crane set the tone early with a 6-3, 6-4 victory over Campbell's Monterosso (UTR 11.50) in a preview of Big South competition this season. Redshirt senior Michiel Meekers picked up where he left off last weekend, topping JMU's Kohler (UTR 11.99) by a score of 6-3, 7-6(5).

Then in his return to the court for the 2018 season, senior Alexandros Caldwell bested Polender of Richmond. Caldwell dropped the first set, 2-6, but came back with a vengeance to win the next two sets, 6-3 and 6-3.

Caldwell also partnered with junior Rodrigo Magalhaes for the Highlanders' first doubles win on the weekend. The duo earned a 6-3 victory over Krick and Wang from College of Charleston.

DAY TWO HIGHLIGHTS
Junior Matko Varga got in on the action to kick off day two, making quick work of Georgetown's Sharton (UTR 12.28) by a final of 6-4, 6-2.

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Meekers added another win to his tally, besting Mobius (UTR 12.57) from VCU in three sets – 6-2, 3-6, 6-3 – while Magalhaes posted a 6-0, 6-3 win against Sec (UTR 11.83) from Charlotte.

A 6-2, 6-1 win for Dylan Whitehead against Blackburn (UTR 8.89) of Howard ended the day on a high note.

In total, Radford picked up four singles victories on Saturday alone – a season-high for a single day.

DAY THREE
In what might have been the most exciting match of the weekend, Magalhaes topped East Carolina's Labbe (UTR 12.28). Trailing 3-6 after one set, the match was suspended due to darkness on Saturday night with Magalhaes down 3-4. The Lisbon, Portugal native bounced back in the morning to take a 6-4 second set win before taking the third set tiebreaker, 10-5.

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Whitehead and Crane capped off Radford's doubles competition for the weekend with a victory over Martin/Blackburn from Howard.

QUOTABLE
"This tournament was another opportunity for us to get better. We won't see many of those teams in the spring so it was beneficial for us to battle it out against them now." - Head Coach Rob Bareford

UP NEXT
Radford wraps up its fall season with the ITA Regionals. The tournament, which is hosted by Virginia Tech this year, will run from Thursday, Oct. 18 through Monday, Oct. 22.

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