FAYETTEVILLE, N.C. - The Emory & Henry men's and women's tennis teams started off their seasons at the Methodist Tournament in Fayetteville, North Carolina this past weekend.  Last season, the women's team saw one of their own win the Flight 1 Singles Draw in this same tournament.  This year, head coach Jessica Giuggioli took both squads to the tournament. 

The men's tournament format had two draws in which the singles and doubles teams had to win two out of three matches to move onto the next round.  John Dalton Ferguson (Gate City, Va.) and Alex Minasyan (Moscow, RUSSIA) played in the A Draw, but ended up losing in the quarterfinals of the consolation bracket.  Joining them in the A Draw was Jonathan Romano (Bland, Va.) and Kamil Aliev (Moscow, RUSSIA).  That pairing also lost in quarterfinals of the consolation bracket. 

The men's team saw some success in the B Draw.  Luke Funkhouser (Gate City, Va.) and Nathan Horner (Orange, Va.) ran through the consolation bracket in both doubles and singles.  On their way to winning the consolation bracket, the duo of Funkhouser and Horner won their matches 8-2, 8-0, and 8-0.  Funkhouser won the singles title 6-2, 6-0, while Horner won his match 6-0, 6-0.  The pairing that Funkhouser and Horner faced in the final was their own teammates Liam Davidson (Newport News, Va.) and Andrew McClung (Roanoke, Va.).  On their way to the second place doubles finish, Davidson and McClung beat strong opponents from William Peace 8-1 and 8-0 in the quarterfinals and semifinals, respectively.

The women's tournament had a different format than the men's tournament this year.  The women had eight singles flights and four doubles flights over the weekend.  Gina Rutledge (Germanton, N.C.) played in the second flight in singles for the Wasps and reached the consolation finals, but fell 6-0, 6-0.  Kaitlyn Sheaves (Staunton, Va.) teamed up with Rutledge to play the doubles in flight two.  The duo, however, did not advance in the flight.  Kala Curtis (Locust Grove, Va.) and Savanna Summers (Bluff City, Va.) reached the consolation bracket finals in the fourth flight in doubles.  The team played tough, but they wound up losing 8-4 in the finals.

Both the men and women play their first matches of the season on Sunday, October 11 vs. Averett University at Richardson Tennis Courts.              

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-photo courtesy of Caleb Johnston '15