Henderson, TN – UPIKE's men's tennis program now carries a record of 4-2 (3-2 MSC) after taking a pair of conference wins on a trip to Bethel and Freed-Hardeman this week. The Bears defeated Bethel 5-2 on Tuesday before beating Freed-Hardeman by the same score on Wednesday.

Altogether UPIKE tallied wins in three of six doubles matches but went an impressive 8-4 in singles events. Number two doubles member Juan Diego Alzate went undefeated on the trip, winning both doubles matches before going on to win out in singles as well.

vs Bethel | W, 5-2

The Bears took the court in McKenzie, TN against a Bethel team that was eager to notch their first win of the season. The Wildcats' number one duo team defeated Juan Medina and Timur Chsherbakov but Alzate and Carlos Villamizar stepped up in the number two doubles, winning 6-1. Bethel's number three duos would win in the third match of the day, heading into singles with a 1-0 advantage.

Chsherbakov dropped in the number one singles, 6-1 in the first set and 6-3 in the second but that would be the only loss of the day as the Bears went 5-0 in 2,3,4,5,6 singles. Villamizar won his sets 7-5 and 6-1 in the number two before Alzate went three sets, losing the middle set but finishing with a 6-4 win in the third to take the victory. Medina, Luis Gayoso, and Fernando Proano all went three sets in their singles matches, with Proano winning a tight tiebreaker 8-6 to seal the win.

vs Freed-Hardeman | W, 5-2

The Bears opened much better on Wednesday against Freed-Hardeman, topping the Lions in the first two doubles matches of the day, including Alzate and Villamizar's tiebreak win in the number one doubles. UPIKE won two of three doubles matches and entered singles play up 1-0.

Chsherbakov fell in the first set of the number one singles before dominating in the second and third, defeating Freed's number one. Alzate carried the momentum with a win in number two, winning set one 6-3, falling in the second set 2-6, before sealing the win with a 7-5 edge in the third.

UPIKE's first loss of the day came from Villamizar who took Arnold to three sets but fell 2-1. Medina stormed back, making quick work of Calandre winning in two sets 6-1, 6-4. Luis Gayoso won the number five singles in a 10-5 tiebreak before Proano fell in two sets. The Bears finished the day with a 5-2 victory to move to 3-2 in conference play.

Head Coach Obed Quiles was excited about the wins.

"I'm proud of my team, playing against conference opponents in bad weather we still managed to win both and that's a testament to our growth as a unit."

UPIKE men's tennis returns to action at home on Saturday for a match against University of the Cumberlands.