ERIE, Pa. – The Fairmont State men's tennis team rolled past Mercyhurst, 4-0, in the opening round of the NCAA Atlantic Regional Tournament on Friday (April 28) at the Westwood Raquet Club in Erie, Pa.
 
With the win, the Falcons will face the No. 2 seed in the region, Edinboro, tomorrow (April 29) at 4 p.m. with a trip to the NCAA National Tournament on the line.
 
Fairmont State captured the doubles point after Kan Watanabe and Alexandre Pages won 6-3 at No. 1 and Mohamed El Helaly and Alex Stacy won 6-2 at No. 3. Elia Barozzi and Seena Saadevandi trailed 4-5 at the end of the doubles matches.
 
The Falcons won a trio of singles matches to close out the dual. Barozzi cruised in No. 1 singles, 6-2, 6-0 for the first Fairmont State victory. Pages claimed a straight-set win (6-4, 6-4) at No. 4 singles. El Helaly took No. 5 singles, 6-3, 6-0 to complete the sweep. Watanabe dropped the first set 3-6 but led set two, 4-1 when matches halted. Saadevandi won set one, 7-6 at No. 3 singles and Stacy was ahead 6-2, 5-4 at No. 6 singles.
 
The Atlantic Regional Championship match will be held at 4 p.m. tomorrow. The location of the dual will be determined at noon. If held outside, the matches will be played on the campus of Edinboro. If indoor courts are needed, the teams will play at Westwood Racquet Club in Erie.