FREDERICKSBURG, Va. - Four members of the Ursinus College men's tennis team battled at the ITA Regionals Saturday to start the season.

After losing in the first round to #6 seed Kevin Caulfield of Haverford in the Championship Draw, Evan Stutchin went to work in the back draw.  He defeated Washington College's Kevin Papen 8-4, and then beat Mary Washington's Donato Rizzolo 8-5 before rain cut short the rest of the consolation matches.
 
Matt Hope won his first round match in the B2 draw, besting Mark Hyland of Mary Washington 6-2, 1-6, 6-4.  Hope then fell to James Weiler of Swarthmore in a tight 6-4, 6-4 battle.
 
Evan Lord lost his first round match in B2 singles to Will Garrett of Haverford, but bounced back with an 8-3 victory over Elizabethtown's Josh Riehl in consolations.  Lord fell in a closely contested 8-5 match to Michael Chang of JHU in the 2nd round of the B2 backdraw.
 
Brent Stevenson, after losing his opening match in the B3 singles draw, recovered to win his first match in the backdraw, an 8-4 victory over Ryan Sadinski of Virginia Wesleyan.  Stevenson then fell in a see-saw 9-7 loss to Brent Floyd of Bridgewater College in the 2nd round of the B3 backdraw.
 
In doubles, Stuchin and Lord drew the Championship Draw # 1 seeds in the first round, Noah Joachim and Jacob Barnaby of national powerhouse Johns Hopkins.  Stuchin and Lord put a scare into the Blue Jays duo before succumbing a a very competitive 8-5 loss.
 
In B1 doubles, Hope and Stevenson advanced to with an impressive 8-5 win over Brandon Larson and Christian Lyon of Bridegwater College.  Hope and Stevenson fell in the second round to Swat's Preston Poon and James Weiler, 8-3.
 
"All in all, it was a good weekend in spite of the weather.  We saw the best players we will see all year down there, and I thought we competed at a very high level.  This should really help our team going into next week's match against York, and as we move forward to the spring season."  said Coach Smith.