LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Bellarmine men's tennis is ready for its final tournament of the calendar year – the CCB Collegiate Invitational in Birmingham, Alabama.

Hosted by Samford University, the invitational is Bellarmine's fourth event this fall and will once again be played Friday through Sunday.  Bellarmine, Samford, Lipscomb, Louisiana Lafayette, Nicholls State, South Alabama, Tulane, and UAB are the participants.  The tournament will take place at the Country Club of Birmingham.
 
Matches will begin at 9:00 a.m. each day with doubles starting the Friday action at 9:00 a.m. and 10:00 a.m.  Singles will follow at 12:00 p.m.  Saturday will feature singles at 9:00 a.m. and 1:00 p.m., while Sunday will have doubles and 9:00 a.m and singles at 11:00 a.m.

The first round of doubles pairs Michael Staff and Donovan Ecarma against Prasanna Pravin Bagade/Antonio Sasso (Nicholls State), Simeon Kostov and Jack Batchelor versus Vasil Dimitrov/Calin Postea (Louisiana Lafayette), and Cole Groetsch alongside Paul Reynolds against Sebastien Collard/Louis Delcour (South Alabama).  All of those matches begin at 9:00 a.m.
 
Singles play at 12:00 p.m. on Friday pits Batchelor against Jim Hendrikx (Samford), Groetsch versus Oriel Gimenez (Louisiana Lafayette), and Kostov against Postea (Louisiana Lafayette).
 
Starting at 1:30 p.m., Reynolds faces JB Pickard (Samford), Ecarma plays Alejandro Gonzalez (Louisiana Lafayette), Staff takes on Antoine Martin – Thiriat (Nicholls State), and Emil B. Berglund competes against Matthew Gooch (Samford).


LAST TIME OUT:

The Bellarmine men's tennis came away with one doubles victory and eight singles wins at the Louisville Invitational Oct. 15-17.

Alongside Bellarmine and Louisville – Indiana, Kentucky, Purdue, Toledo, and East Tennessee State participated in the three-day event.
 
Jack Batchelor and Paul Reynolds earned a 6-2 doubles win against Kentucky's Jonathan Sorbo and Yash Zemel.

Reynolds continued his strong play in singles actions, beating Cole Shoults of Toledo (6-0, 7-5) and Milledge Cossu (6-4, Retired – Injury).  Donovan Ecarma also nailed down a pair of wins topping Juan Lombisano from East Tennessee State (6-4, 6-3) and Indiana's Mac Rogers (6-4, 6-1).

Four other Knights tallied wins over the weekend - Simeon Kostov defeated Jagger Saylor of Indiana (6-7, 6-2, 10-7), Emil B. Berglund beat Toledo's Vlad Meluta (6-2, 5-7, 10-7), Michael Staff topped Meluta (6-4, 7-5), and Batchelor received a win as Cossu retired due to injury.

 
KNIGHTS NOTES: 
 
Batchelor leads the team with seven singles wins this season.  Staff, Reynolds, Ecarma, Batchelor, and Berglund all have a pair of doubles victories this fall.
 
Following the CCB Collegiate Invitational this weekend, Bellarmine is off until Jan. 16 when the Knights travel to Lexington to take on Kentucky.
 
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