Blacksburg, Va. – All three of UMBC's doubles tandems advanced to the round of 16 at the USTA/ITA Regional Championships, held at Virginia Tech University.

In singles, the Retrievers had a tough day as all five players in action lost, four of the five fell in three sets and all four of those players dropped a tie-breaker in the process.

Senior Jaan Kononov (Talinn, Estonia) earned the No. 3 seed in the championships and a bye and will take on  Philiip Mobius of VCU in the second round on Saturday.

Senior Elliot Loubatie (Paris, France) and junior Biyik Akinshemoyin (Laurel, Md./Reservoir) won a pair of matches, getting past tandems from Morgan State (8-4) and Liberty (8-6). After a bye, Kononov and senior Melker Svard (Gothenburg, Sweden) stormed past Salinas/Moorehead of James Madison, 8-3, while seniors Justin Carter (Randallstown, Md.) and Alex Drean (Bayonne, France) edged Cain/Akins of Duquesne, 8-6, similarly after a bye to the second round.

All three doubles teams will be in action on Saturday.  

USTA/ITA Regional Championships (Blacksburg, Va.)

Doubles-First Round

Loubatie/Akinshemoyin, UMBC def. Ward/Ferguson, Morgan State, 8-4

Second Round

Loubatie/Akinshemoyin, UMBC def. Matheson/Poynter, Liberty, 8-6

Kononov/Svard, UMBC def. Salinas/Moorehead, JMU, 8-3

Carter/Drean, UMBC def. Caine/Akins, Duquesne, 8-6

Singles – First Round

Jeremy Field, Morgan State, def. Biyik Akinshemoyin, UMBC, 6-7 (5), 7-5, 6-4

Michael Weindl, ODU def. Melker Svard, UMBC, 6-4, 6-0

Jacob Nicolussi, ODU def. Alex Drean, UMBC, 2-6, 7-6 (5), 6-1

Scott Huang, Wm. & Mary def. Justin Carter, UMBC,  6-4, 3-6, 7-6 (1)

James Aronson, Richmond def. Eliott Loubatie, UMBC, 7-6 (5), 4-6, 6-1