SAVANNAH, GA – Several Francis Marion University tennis players had successful weekends at the Wilson/ITA Mid-Atlantic Regional Men’s and Women’s Tennis Tournaments played in Savannah, Sept. 22-24.

The three-day event included more than 180 men’s and women’s players from 18 NCAA Division II schools.

The Patriot women’s doubles team of seniors Sarka Vitkova and Jenny Ludwig won four matches before falling in Monday’s championship match 8-2 to the top-seeded squad from Clayton State University.  Vitkova also won two singles matches before being eliminated in the third round of the main draw.

Senior Sarah Hickman and sophomore Mary Beth Belk each won a match in the “B” women’s singles draw before being eliminated.  They also teamed to win a match in the “B” doubles bracket.

The FMU men’s doubles team of senior Franklyn Emmanuel and freshman Oshada Wijemanne won three matches before losing to the eventual champions 8-2 in Monday morning’s semifinals.  Two other Patriot doubles teams, Dananjaya Mayadunne/Dilshod Sharifi and Matthew Keth/Karl Rogers, were knocked out in the second round.

In the men’s main singles draw, Wijemanne captured three wins before falling in the fourth round, while Emmanuel and Sharifi were both eliminated in the third round.

Rogers, a freshman, won all four of his matches to win the championship of the men’s “B” singles draw, defeating Wu Ferraz of Augusta State University 6-1, 6-3 in the championship match.  Keth went 2-1 to reach the final match of the “B” singles draw consolation bracket, while Mayadunne won two matches and James Machlachlan one in the “B” draw.