Men's Tennis Earns Trio of Afternoon Singles Victories Friday at Vanderbilt

NASHVILLE, Tenn. – On the opening day of the three-day Black & Gold Invitational hosted at nearby Vanderbilt University, the Belmont University men's tennis team collected a trio of singles wins. Senior Alfred Wallin, redshirt junior Diego Castro and junior Ian Cruz all earned singles victories against power conference opponents at the Lummis Family Tennis Center Friday afternoon.
 
Taking on the host Commodores' Alexandre Hillhouse, Wallin needed only two sets in a gritty 6-4, 7-6 (3) triumph. Meanwhile, both Castro and Cruz prevailed in three-set affairs.
 
Taking the opening set 8-6 in a tiebreaker against Vanderbilt's Mitchell Deames, Castro bounced back from a 6-1 set two loss. He captured the decisive third set, 6-3.
 
Cruz matched up with Georgia Tech's Rohan Sachdev and came back from a set down. After dropping the first set, 6-3, Cruz pulled out a 7-3 second-set tiebreak before clinching the match with a convincing 6-1 third set.
 
Senior Niklas von Hellens and junior Gabriel Sardo were also in action Friday as the Bruins were unable to win either of their two doubles matches.
 
Round-robin singles and doubles play continues Saturday morning at 9:30 a.m.
 
Both live scoring and live streaming are available for the Black & Gold Invitational's matches. Links can be found by visiting BelmontBruins.com.
 
Belmont's complete results from Friday are below.
 
Doubles
Pau Fanlo/Sam Reeve (Memphis) def. Gabriel Sardo/Niklas von Hellens (Belmont) 8-1
Mitchell Deames/Paul Wang (Vanderbilt) def. Alfred Wallin/Diego Castro (Belmont) 8-3
 
Singles
Juan Zabala (Memphis) def. Gabriel Sardo (Belmont) 6-3, 6-3
Alfred Wallin (Belmont) def. Alexandre Hillhouse (Vanderbilt) 6-4, 7-6 (3)
Ian Cruz (Belmont) def. Rohan Sachdev (Georgia Tech) 3-6, 7-6 (3), 6-1
Diego Castro (Belmont) def. Mitchell Deames (Vanderbilt) 7-6 (6), 1-6, 6-3
 
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