The men’s tennis team from Bluefield State College was tested by some of the region’s top individuals — and in some cases, by each other — and came out winners at the Atlantic Region Championship of the Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) on Sunday.

The three-day competition began Friday at Pennbriar Athletic Club in Erie, hosted by Mercyhurst University.

For the third consecutive year a BSC athlete has won the regional championship. Newcomer Vishwesh Sinha defeated teammate Jacob Carey 6-4, 6-1 for the singles championship.

Pitor Kruk and Carey combined to win the doubles. In the championship match, it was a three-set thriller against Sinha and Shikhar Kapur, the 2010 Atlantic Regional champion, but Kruk and Carey pulled it out by scores of 6-4, 4-6, 10-5.

It was the Big Blues’ second consecutive year winning the doubles title.

Sinha came into the tournament seeded no. 1 in the championship bracket and did not disappoint. Carey advanced to the finals as the no. 2 seed.

The Big Blues also saw success in the “B” bracket as Guatam Sreeram and Conner Pickering won the “B” doubles championship after defeating Gabe Seymour and Rico Williams from University of Charleston 8-3.

“Three out of the four semifinalists in singles were our players,” said BSC tennis coach Louis Belt. “I think it showed how deep our team is this year.” read more…