Troy men’s tennis takes on the Mercer Tournament

Troy men's tennis competed in the Mercer Tournament from Thursday to Saturday at the John Drew Smith Tennis Center, making the finals matches in the E-Final.

"It was a tricky tournament, because we had to start a little bit earlier than expected due to the weather conditions on the weekend, so it was a big load in a short amount of time, but I think the players were ready," said head coach Rolando Vargas. "It was a physical stretch, but they managed to meet the expectation mentally, and we were able to get everybody with a positive record in singles, same in doubles."

Making his first appearance as a Trojan this season, Lenny Galley beat Barry's Hugo Papet, 6-3, 6-0, in Flight C2's E-Semifinals on day three of the tournament. Flight C1's E-Semifinals had Henrique de Brito taking on Furman's Luke Oosthuizen, resulting in de Brito winning the match, 6-2, 6-2.

De Brito is set to take on Kennesaw State's Kyvan Rietkerk for the E-Final, while Galley is set to compete against North Georgia's Tom Lefevre. However, the schedule has not been set.

On another court, in Flight B1's E-Semifinals, Ryusei Miyazato fell 1-6, 6-4, 3-6 to North Georgia's Marcos Castellanos. During the Extra Matches Quarterfinals, Gabriel Garay defeated Georgia State's Joao Pimenta, 6-1, 6-1, while Louis Boilevin ended his match with a 6-2, 6-2 win against Mercer's Raphael Rousson.

Moving over to doubles play, De Brito and Boilevin defeated Georgia Southern's Amar Huseinovic and Albert Widell, 6-3, in Flight B's E-Semifinals but later fell 3-6 in the E-Final against North Georgia's Joao Luis Silva and Tom Lefevre. On the other hand, during Flight C's E-Semifinal, Miyazato and Galley competed against Abraham Baldwin's Milan Volbert and Nathan Bauer and won 6-0.

The duo then went on to the E-Final and claimed the 6-4 victory against Kennesaw State's Kyvan Rietkerk and Konstantinos Megalemos.

"We started to see good things from players that are young," Vargas said. "So, it was a good preparation, and we just have to keep working hard because this month is going to be really busy.

“I'm so excited about what's coming, and we just have to keep up preparing and be ready to compete in Auburn. So, I'm looking forward to that."

The Trojans will be back in action on Friday, Oct. 9, for the ITA Regionals in Auburn, Alabama. The tournament will last up to Tuesday, Oct. 13.