SUMTER, S.C. | This past weekend the Young Harris College men's and women's tennis teams participated in the ITA Regional Championships in Sumter, South Carolina.

The men's team qualified four singles players and three doubles pairings while the women's team qualified four singles participants and two doubles pairs.

"This tournament had some tough competition," said YHC head coach Andrew Cobb. "We had some opportunities that we didn't capitalize on but overall we had a really good tournament. The positives in singles and doubles and how the players fought during their matches highlighted the weekend for us."

During the first day of the tournament, the pairing of Ana Rodriguez and Jing Dong fell to Eduarda Ferreira and Polina Radchenko of Lander University. Rodriguez and Dong jumped out to a 4-1 lead and served for the match at 5-2 and 5-4 but ultimately fell 7-5. On the men's side, the duo of Romeo Luque and Miguel Danelon placed a 6-2 win over Luca Kirchhoff and Marcel Schomburg of Newberry College, while the doubles pair of Ignacio Ascarrunz and Kash Reddiyar placed another win for the Mountain Lions. They defeated Thembo Makhanya and Lucas Sasaki of Emmanuel (Ga.) College 7-6 (4) to move on to the next round in the doubles bracket. The third pair for Young Harris, John Brett and Herman Ronnberg, battled back from a 5-2 deficit but fell to Matthew De Groot and Jamieson Nathan of Lander.

In singles play which took place after doubles, Carol Quevedo posted a 6-0, 6-1 win over Iva Jankovic of Southern Wesleyan University while Ascarrunz posted a 6-3, 4-6, 6-3 win over Liam Day of Francis Marion University. In the second round of the singles bracket, Quevedo fell 7-5, 7-5 to Amelie Vossgaetter of Flagler College and Ascarrunz lost 6-2, 6-1 to Matthias Rogel of Georgia College. Reddiyar, Danelon, Luque, Ana Rodriguez, Juli Boerr, and Dong fell in the first round and were scheduled to compete in the consolation singles bracket on the second day of the ITA Regional.

In doubles action on Saturday morning, both remaining doubles pairs for the Mountain Lions fell to their opponents. The duo of Ascarrunz and Reddiyar fell 6-1 to Axel Cronje and Adam Elliget of Lander while Luque and Danelon lost 6-0 to the No. 2 seed from Wingate University, Daniel Belsito and Josep Canyadell. In singles action later that afternoon, Rodriguez and Dong ended the day on a high note by posting wins for the Mountain Lions. Rodriguez defeated her opponent, Arantxa Gonzalez of Wingate 6-0, 6-2, while Dong placed a 6-3, 6-1 win over Grace Coleman of Erskine College.