MARYVILLE, Tenn. – The Brevard College men's and women's tennis teams competed in the inaugural Maryville College Fall Tennis Invitational, hosted by Maryville College in Maryville, Tennessee.
 
The event included a total of 91 matches (48 men's and 43 women's) at two locations over the course of two days. BC took part in the event alongside host Maryville, Johnson University of Tennessee, and Truett McConnell University.
 
Friday's action kicked off the action-packed two days for the Tornados, with play hosted on the Maryville College Courts. On the men's side in singles play, Hayden LeBlanc kicked things off by defeating Miguel Loo of Johnson, 6-2, 6-0. Bryce Bernitt followed suit by dropping TMU's Santiago Vicente 6-2, 6-0.
 
Ayden Montero fell in a tight match to Cameron Lewis of TMU, as Lewis took the first set 6-4 before Montero swept the second set 6-0. The tiebreaker went to Lewis by a final of 10-7. Caelan Byrd got the Tornados back in the win column with a triumph over TMU's Tate Bennett, 6-1, 7-5. BC rounded out singles play on Friday with victories from Ethan McGee, Peter Bresko, Garret Cardwell, and Nathan Bookout, bringing the men's singles victory total to seven on the day.
 
On the women's singles side on Friday over on the John Sevier Park Courts, Hannah Hersh and Madison Bowen clinched singles wins, as Bowen took Johnson's Berkley Clark to a third-set tiebreak that she claimed 10-3. Sophie Trantham defeated Maryville's Alyssa Smith in a thriller, with each player earning 7-5 set wins before Trantham's decisive 11-9 tiebreak.
 
Jada Ore collected a singles win over Maryville's Callie Kondolios 6-4, 7-5, as BC earned a total of four singles victories on the women's side Friday. Doubles action for the women's team included wins for Bowen and Trantham 6-1, and a victory for the duo of Savannah Anderson and Ore, 6-1. The men's doubles featured a win for Noah Boyles and LeBlanc over Ross Stewart and Juan Pablo Diaz of TMU, 6-1.
 
The Tornados' men's side continued its positive momentum onto the John Sevier Park Courts on Saturday, as Bernitt, Nathan Bookout, Boyles, Byrd, LeBlanc, McGee, and Montero all earned singles victories. As a result, Bernitt, Bookout, and LeBlanc all won their flights in the Invitational.
 
The women's side took place on the MC Courts, with Bowen earning another thrilling singles victory this time over Lydia Clark of TMU. Bowen won the first set 6-7, while Clark won the second set 7-6 via a 7-5 tiebreaker. Bowen pulled through in the third-set tiebreaker, 10-7. Anderson collected her first singles win of the event, defeating Taylor Pittman of TMU in three sets. Anderson and Pittman each took 7-5 set wins before Anderson clinched the match with an 11-9 win in the tiebreaker. Abbie Zylka claimed her first collegiate singles victory, defeating Connleigh Irwin of JUT, 7-6, 6-3, 1-0 (10-6). Duos of Hersh/Gracie Spangler and Bowen/Trantham took doubles wins for the Tornados.
 
The Tornados will next compete in the ITA Division III Men's & Women's South Regional Championships this weekend, Friday-Sunday, September 27-29 in Mount Berry, Georgia, hosted by Berry College.
 
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