FREDERICKSBURG, Va. – A pair of impressive runs by doubles pairings highlighted the Ursinus College men's tennis team's season-opening trip to the ITA Southeast Regional Championships over the weekend.

Junior Max Oberholtzer and sophomore Paul Vecchio won two matches in the championship draw, becoming the first Ursinus tandem to reach the Round of 16 in that event, while senior Chanton Phan and junior Peter Shields advanced to the semifinals of the Blue 1 doubles draw at the tournament hosted by Mary Washington.

Oberholtzer and Vecchio started strong with an 8-3 victory over T.J. von Seggern and Trevor Johnson of Randolph, followed by an 8-5 triumph opposite Haverford's Josh Moskovitz and Daisuke Nakamura. The Bears' top duo then took on top-seeded Daniel Levine and Vayum Arora of Carnegie Mellon, eventually succumbing to an 8-2 setback.

Phan and Shields reached the semifinals after an 8-6 win against Virginia Wesleyan's Joseph Holloway and Andreas Combos and an 8-4 result against James Wright and Nicholas Yanes of Averett. They then fell by an 8-5 count to the eventual champions, Franklin & Marshall's Inigo Flores and Jack Rothman.

Oberholtzer battled Swarthmore's Simon Vernier in a thrilling first-round match in the championship singles bracket, but the Garnet player escaped with a 6-0, 3-6, 10-2 victory. Ursinus' number one individual bounced back with an 8-3 defeat of Washington and Lee's Zack Ely before losing to Carnegie Mellon's Robert Levine in the consolation rounds.

Vecchio advanced to the quarterfinals of the Blue 2 singles draw with an 8-2 rout of Goucher's Slade Dumas, but was upended by Christopher Newport's Michael Dodd, 8-5.

Phan made it to the semifinals in singles as well, picking up a pair of victories in the Blue 3 singles tournament. He knocked off Joshua Rodgers of Bridgewater, 8-6, and followed up with an 8-2 triumph against Grove City's Zack Springer. Phan suffered a narrow 9-7 defeat to Clark Cummings of Hampden-Sydney in the semifinal round.

Senior Henry Burke collected a consolation victory over Grove City's Edward Doyle in the Blue 3 bracket, and Shields edged out Dickinson's James Demakos, 8-6, in the consolation of the Blue 4 bracket.

The men's tennis team now awaits its spring season, which gets underway on March 6 against Juniata in Orlando.