BUCKHANNON, W.Va. -- The Davis & Elkins men's tennis team narrowly defeated Salem University 4-3 behind a flurry of tiebreaks in key matches. 
 
Anthony Martins fought off five match clinching points in his super tiebreaker to pull out a 3-6, 6-3 (12-10) at #6 singles to seal the team win for the Senators. 
 
Santiago Ordonez turned the same trick in his #5 singles match when he battled back from a set and 0-2 down to claim a 1-6, 6-3 (10-5) victory and get the Senators their third team point.
 
Freshman #1 player Duarte Correia got his first college singles win, taking a convincing 6-1, 6-0 decision at the top spot. Correia also teamed with Filippo Buffo for a 6-2 win at #2 doubles. That set up Vinicius Azeredo and Julian Tamburini to clinch the doubles point for D&E with their 7-6 (7-5) tiebreaker win at the #3 line.
 
"It was a close match from start-to-finish today and the guys did a nice job of handling some clutch situations to grab a win," said head coach Mark Walters. "Anthony got another clinching win anchoring the six spot, and Julian and Vini fought back from multiple breaks and a match point against to get that doubles point for us, which was huge." 
 
Despite quickly losing the #2 and #3 singles in succession, Correia's win kept the Senators even at 2-2 going into the final three matches where all of them went to tiebreakers. Salem got the final point at #4 where freshman Mauro Cupelli lost a pair of breakers 6-7 (5), 6-7 (4).
 
"The guys dealt with some tough weather conditions, a rowdy Salem crowd, and limited practice coming off the all the Forest Festival activities, so this was a nice result for the guys with that adversity", added Walters. 

D&E Men 4 Salem 3
Doubles
1. Guillen/Fedeli (SU) def Cupelli/Ordonez (D&E) 0-6
2. Buffo/Correia (D&E) def Muller/Acuna (SU) 6-2
3. Azeredo/Tamburini (D&E) def Noya/Hort (SU) 7-6 (5)*
 
(Order: 1,2,3* - D&E leads 1-0)
 
Singles
1. Correia (D&E) def Muller (SU) 61, 60
2. Guillen (SU) def Buffo (D&E) 61, 61
3. Nova (SU) def Azeredo (D&E) 62 60
4. Hort (SU) def Cupelli (D&E) 76 (5), 76 (4)
5. Ordonez (D&E) def Ducoing (SU) 16, 63, 10-5
6. Martins (D&E) def Munoz (SU) 26, 63, 12-10*
 
(Order: 2,3,1,5,6*,4)
 
*denotes clinch
 
D&E MTennis 1-1, 0-0 MEC
 
Up next
D&E moves to 1-1 on the season with the regional win and looks to close out the fall season next weekend in the I-79 Challenger tournament hosted by Fairmont State and WV Wesleyan. 
 
Play is scheduled to begin at 9am on Friday and Saturday at Fairmont State, and conclude on Sunday at West Virginia in Wesleyan in Buckhannon at 10am.