MEN'S TENNIS SHOWS WELL AT SEASON-OPENING ELON INVITE

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ELON, N.C. – The Radford men's tennis team took the court for the first time in the 2018-19 season this weekend, competing in the Elon Invitational.

"It was nice to see our guys compete for the first time," said head coach Rob Bareford who took over the reins of the program in August. "We got some experience under our belt, had some great wins and now we know what we need to work on going forward."

Fielding a young lineup that included three freshmen, the Highlanders posted some really strong results including a Gold Singles bracket sweep by redshirt senior Michiel Meekers.

The Elon Invitational featured five singles brackets and four doubles brackets, spacing out athletes from Radford, James Madison, N.C. Wesleyan, App State, Wake Forest, Old Dominion, Charlotte and UNC Greensboro.

DAY ONE
Back in his home state of North Carolina, freshman Dylan Whitehead got Radford started on the right foot with a 7-5(5), 6-2 win over Ignacio Mercado of N.C. Wesleyan. Junior Rodrigo Magalhaes then followed that up with a big-time 6-2, 3-6, 6-2 win over Charlotte's Constandinos Christoforou.

Freshman Will Crane grabbed the Highlanders' final singles win of the day, defeating Stan Martherus (NCW) 6-4, 6-3 in the Powell Singles bracket.

Radford earned two doubles win on the day as well with Meekers and junior Matko Varga teaming up to beat Osses-Konig/Liberman (Charlotte), 8-6. Crane and Magalhaes then built on their singles wins with a doubles win of 8-6 over Gende/Evans (NCW).

DAY TWO
Just like Day One it was up to Whitehead to lead things off and he delivered with a 6-1, 6-1 victory against Wake Forest's Taye Dupree. The ACC school fell victim to Radford yet again when Meekers topped Ryan Mueller 7-5, 6-4 in the next singles match.

In a little Big South preview, Meekers went head-to-head with Campbell's Bastien Huon and came away with a 6-3, 6-7(6), 10-5 victory.

DAY THREE
The third and final day of the Elon Invitational went quickly as a pair of Radford doubles teams fell early, but Magalhaes and Crane continued their strong start to the season with an 8-3 win over Stone/Carter (App State).

Meekers capped his stellar first weekend with yet another singles win to take the top spot in the Gold Singles bracket. The Opglabbeek, Belgium native took down App State's Milo Bargeron 7-5, 6-3. The win is even more impressive considering Bargeron entered Sunday's competition with a Universal Tennis Rating of 12.12.

UP NEXT
The Highlanders are right back at it next weekend when they head to Lynchburg for the Liberty Invitational. The Liberty-hosted tournament will take place between Friday, Sept. 28 and Sunday, Sept. 30 at the Cook Tennis Complex.

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