PIKEVILLE, Ky. -- By taking care of business at the higher seeds, the University of Pikeville men's tennis team got past Shawnee State (Ohio) 5-4 in Mid-South Conference play on Thursday at the Bob Amos Complex.

The Bears went 2-1 in doubles play, then won three straight singles matches to secure the win at 5-1. Shawnee won the fourth, fifth and sixth-seed singles matches, but that was with the win already completed by UPIKE.

Bailey Horne and Andres Alvarez got things started with an 8-0 win over Zach Colley and Matthew Bryan at the top doubles seed, followed by Devon Sgubin and Kenton Hall topping C.J. Burk and Nate Hinze 8-2 at No. 2.

SSU got on the board when Casper Nolte and Shane Hitchens got past Jorge Mejia and Oscar Pacheco 8-0.

To get to the needed five wins quick, UPIKE picked up its first in singles at the top seed where Horne swept Colley 6-0, 6-0. Sgubin won at the third seed next, 6-1, 6-0 over Nolte, while Alvarez added the Bears' second shutout with a 6-0, 6-0 win over Hinze to seal it.

UPIKE's best effort in the three singles losses was Hall pushing Hitchens to the limit in the second set of a 6-0, 7-5 loss at the sixth seed.

UP NEXT

UPIKE heads to Cumberlands in Williamsburg at Noon ET on Saturday.

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