Troy men’s tennis struggles at Mercer Gridiron Classic

The Troy men’s tennis team traveled to Mercer University to take part in the three-day Mercer Gridiron Classic during the weekend. The event featured talent from 12 schools across the Southeast competing in both singles and doubles competitions.

Troy picked up four singles victories in the first day of competition from the freshman duo of Antonio Selma and Andy Romero, as well as sophomores Shaaz Peerani and Samuel Bird.

The Trojans were only able to secure one doubles victory from their four matches, with the lone win coming from a 6-4 decision from Peerani and senior Andy Lau. Sophomore Jiaqi Duan and Selma sent their match into day two, but suffered a 7-5 loss to a duo from Alabama State.

Day two saw new challenges for the Trojans as Troy lost its only doubles match of the afternoon and was eliminated from the quarterfinals of singles play. Both Lau and Peerani won their respective matches in the round of 16, but later fell in the quarterfinal round.

Lau took the round of 16 by defeating Stephano Aloy from Georgia Southern 6-4 and 6-3. However, he fell in the following round 6-4, 2-6, 4-6.

Peerani cruised through the round of 16, defeating Carl Luckman from Alabama State 6-2, 6-1 before falling 7-5, 2-6, 2-6 in the following round.

The final day of action was cut short due to severe weather, with Duan being the only Trojan to get a match in. Duan fell 6-3, 7-5 to Chattanooga’s Niklas Gerdes.

Weather permitting, the Trojans look ahead to the BBC Collegiate Invitational. The two-day event will be held in Birmingham, after which Troy will travel to Louisville, Kentucky, to take part in the ITA Louisville Fall Invitational on Oct. 13-15.