West Virginia Wesleyan has been selected by a vote of the league’s coaches to win the 2019 Mountain East Conference title in Men’s Tennis.
Wesleyan, the three-time defending MEC champion, is the favorite to once again land atop the league standings. In addition to at least a share of the last three league standings, the Bobcats have taken each of the last two tournament championships.
The Bobcats had 49 points with seven first-place votes.
Maycon Santos Dias, the conference Player and Freshman of the Year in 2018, leads the way this season for WVWC. Lukas Liapold, Harry Simaioforidis and Alexander Lyudinovskiy were all key players for last year’s squad who are in the lineup again for head coach Marc Walters. Newcomer Carlos Dodero is off to a strong start in his first season at WVWC winning three times in the top flights the West Liberty Invitational, the I-79 Challenger, and the Bobcat Fall Challenger.
The University of Charleston was picked second in the poll with 42 points and had the remaining first-place vote. The Golden Eagles have four All-MEC performers back this season in first-team picks Ben Lakeman and Joao Tayar and second-team performers Thomas Andrews and Alek Gracin.
West Liberty was third slotted third in the poll 38 points. The Hilltoppers will rely Camilo Moncayo to lead a youthful squad that has five underclassmen (four freshmen). Lucas Alves was a first-team All-MEC player last year and will be atop the lineup for a Fairmont State team that was picked fourth in the poll with 30 points. Shepherd was fifth in the poll (23) points and are led by junior Carter Davis, a first-team All-MEC selection in 2018.
Concord was predicted to finish sixth with 17 points, while Uva-Wise (14) and West Virginia State (11) rounded out the poll.
The MEC Men’s Tournament will be held May 3-5 in Huntington, W.Va.
