SUMTER, S.C. - The Lander University men's tennis team turned in a strong showing this past weekend at the Intercollegiate Tennis Association NCAA Division II Southeast Region Championships, with Harry Pugh advancing to the singles final and pairing with Brendan Jayaprakash to reach the doubles final.

The Bearcats had four athletes represented at the event: Pugh, Jayaprakash, Anton Krondell, and Max Barriere. Both doubles teams — Barriere/Krondell and Jayaprakash/Pugh — made deep runs, while three Bearcats also competed in the singles draw.

Pugh, ranked No. 4 in singles, battled his way through the 64-player field. After opening with a victory over Lincoln Memorial's Radu Florea, he went on to defeat Augusta's Arthur Valette, No. 16 Filip Kana of Flagler, and No. 8 Daniel Hammond of Columbus State. In the semifinals, Pugh took down Flagler's No. 8 Ilian Borlee to advance to the championship match, where he ultimately finished runner-up after a 6-3, 7-5 loss to No. 3 Pedro Liborio of North Georgia.

Jayaprakash opened with a win over Belmont Abbey's No. 16 Ricard Novell and followed it with a three-set victory against David Muñoz Botia of Georgia College in the round of 32. His run ended in the round of 16 with a loss to No. 2 Simon Malis of Flagler. Krondell fell in a tight round of 64 match against No. 16 Alexandru Giurea of Lincoln Memorial.

In doubles action, Barriere and Krondell advanced to the semifinals, highlighted by an upset win over No. 2 ranked Elias Peter and Andrea Sandrone of Columbus State. They were eliminated by No. 1 Agustin Mastri and Luca Bergonzi of Catawba. Jayaprakash and Pugh rolled through the field with wins over teams from Carson-Newman, North Georgia, Wingate, and Columbus State to reach the final, where they fell to Mastri and Bergonzi, 6-2, 7-6.

Below are the results from the ITA tournament:

Singles

Round of 64
Harry Pugh (Lander) (17) def. Radu Florea (Lincoln Memorial) 7-6, 6-1
Brendan Jayaprakash (Lander) (59) def. Ricard Novell (Belmont Abbey) (16) 6-2, 6-4
Alexandru Giurea (Lincoln Memorial) def. Anton Krondell (Lander) (6) 6-3, 2-6, 1-0 (10-7)

Round of 32
Pugh (Lander) def. Arthur Valette (Augusta) 7-6, 6-3
Jayaprakash (Lander) def. David Muñoz Botia (Georgia College) (10) 4-6, 6-4, 1-0 (12-10)

Round of 16
Pugh (Lander) def. Filip Kana (Flagler) (16) 6-2, 6-2
Simon Malis (Flagler) (2) def. Jayaprakash (Lander) 3-6, 6-3, 6-2

Quarterfinals
Pugh (Lander) def. Daniel Hammond (Columbus State) (8) 6-1, 6-4

Semifinals
Pugh (Lander) def. Ilian Borlee (Flagler) (8) 6-2, 6-3

Final
Pedro Liborio (North Georgia) (3) def. Pugh (Lander) 6-3, 7-5

Doubles

Round of 32
Barriere/Krondell (Lander) def. Raja/Chen (UVA-Wise) 8-5
Jayaprakash/Pugh (Lander) def. Kolevski/Keenan (Carson-Newman) 8-5

Round of 16
Barriere/Krondell (Lander) def. Peter/Sandrone (Columbus State) (2) 8-4
Jayaprakash/Pugh (Lander) def. Britez/Blanco Cauterucci (North Georgia) (6) 9-8 (3)

Quarterfinals
Barriere/Krondell (Lander) def. Liborio/Varga (North Georgia) (7) 8-2
Jayaprakash/Pugh (Lander) def. Colabella/Remsted (Wingate) 8-2

Semifinals
Mastri/Bergonzi (Catawba) def. Barriere/Krondell (Lander) 8-4
Jayaprakash/Pugh (Lander) def. Hammond/Szombathelyi (Columbus State) (3) 8-6

Final
Mastri/Bergonzi (Catawba) def. Jayaprakash/Pugh (Lander) 6-2, 7-6