The Seattle University men's tennis team struggled on the first day of the PNW Intercollegiate Tournament, hosted by the University of Oregon, winning only one singles match and one doubles set Friday.
Kevin Lynch (Colorado Springs, Colo.) picked up the only Seattle U victory in the Yellow Flight, defeating Nate Chart of Portland State in straight sets (6-2, 7-5). Lynch advances to the second round, where he faces top seed Aaron Clissold of Oregon Saturday, Nov. 5, at 8 a.m.
In the Green Flight, the doubles team of Mark Shkrebtan (Redmond, Wash.) and Simon Meske (Tacoma, Wash.) defeated Geoff Hernandez and Michel Hu Kwo of Portland, 9-8, before losing their quarterfinal match to Clissold and Daniel Sardu of Oregon, 8-1. Lynch and Jason Bediones (Kent, Wash.) lost their first round doubles match to Victor Ouvrard and Moez Echargui of Nevada in a tiebreaker, 9-8 (7-4).
In Green Flight singles, Shkrebtan won the second set tiebreaker to force a third set in his match before losing to Matt Stith of Washington (6-1, 6-7 (5), 6-4), Flavio Malagutti (Rio Claro, Brazil) lost to Abid Akbar of Idaho in straight sets (6-0, 6-2), Meske lost to Washington's Marton Bots in straight sets (6-1, 6-2), and Andrew Anderson (Tacoma, Wash.) fell in straight sets to Nicholas Kamisar, also of the Huskies (6-1, 6-1).
In other Yellow Flight singles action involving the Redhawks, Yusuke Kanehira (Tokyo, Japan) lost to Sam Bush of Oregon in three sets (7-5, 2-6, 6-2), Zachary Williams (Spokane, Wash.) fell in straight sets to Douglas Mayeda of Oregon (6-4, 6-0), and Daniel Coelho of Portland defeated Bediones, also in straight sets (6-2, 7-5).
In doubles action in the Yellow Flight, Kanehira and Malagutti lost to Abhinav Mishra and Alec Marx of Portland State, 8-6, while Williams and Anderson fell to Clint Vidano and Taylor Bieberle of Idaho, 8-4.
Besides Lynch's match, the other Seattle U players will be placed in consolation singles brackets, with play in those draws scheduled to begin at 2 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 5.