Blacksburg, Va. – Senior Jaan Kononov (Talinn, Estonia) reached the semi-final round at the USTA/ITA Regional Championships, before dropping a tough-three set match to bow out of the tournament.

Kononov prevailed in the quarterfinals, posting his third consecutive straight set victory in the matches held at Virginia Tech University.

The senior played a challening first set, besting Edoardo Tessaro of Virginia Tech, 6-4. But then Kononov hit his stride, blanking the host player, 6-0, to advance to the semi-finals.

In the semis, the third-seeded Retriever stayed strong against an error-prone Adam Moundir of Old Dominion and took the opening set, 6-2.  But the ninth-seeded Monarch fought back and triumphed, 6-3, in the second set and captured the deciding set, 6-2.

UMBC closes the fall campaign by playing at the Navy Invitational this weekend.