FAYETTEVILLE, N.C. — Averett University men's tennis opened play at the Methodist University Fall Invitational on Friday afternoon with early singles and doubles rounds.
 
In Flight 1 singles, Averett freshman Jorge Figueroa fell to Division II Barton College's Diego Agudelo, 8-5. In Flight 2 singles, junior Stan Martherus advanced by beating Methodist's Henry Murray, 8-1. Meanwhile, senior Nicolas Yanes fell to Division II Mount Olive University's Paul Sitkiewiez, 8-5.
 
In Flight 3 singles, junior Thomas Woodcock lost to Barton's James Kelly, 8-3, and sophomore Patrick Shields fell 8-5 to Barton's Matteo Savio. In Flight 4 singles, Barton's Alessandro Gerbino topped junior Simon Levinsson, 8-3. Averett freshman Evgeniy Bogdasaryan picked up an 8-3 win in Flight 5 singles, beating Methodist's Quinn McNamara. The Cougars also got a Flight 6 singles win from junior Fabian Howding, who topped Guilford College's Kai Glass 8-6.  Averett also had two players competing in Flight 7 singles. Senior Mathias Reusch lost 8-4 to Barton's Lisandro Torresani, while junior Alvaro Jimenez lost 8-2 to Barton's Cameron Johnson.
 
Doubles play also got under way on Friday night. Averett had two duos playing in Flight 4 doubles. Bogdasaryan and Jimenez teamed up for an 8-6 victory over Barton's Torresani and Johnson, then followed that with an 8-3 win against an exhibition duo of Mount Olive's Jimmy Davis and Guilford's Matthew Souriya. Bogdasaryan and Jimenez will play in the Flight 4 finals on Saturday. Howding and Reusch also played in Flight 4, falling to Barton's Bradley Beck and Frederick Stone 8-6. They answered with an 8-0 consolation win against Guilford's Glass and Tim Thompson.

In Flight 2 doubles, Figueroa and Martherus fell to Methodist's A.J. Rogers and E.J. Stolmeijer, 8-3. They then fell in a tight battle to Mount Olive's Sitkiewiez and Victor Nunez, 8-7 (10-4).

In Flight 1 doubles, Yanes and Shields dropped their opening match, 8-2, to Philip Nordberg and Hugh Ryder. Yanes and Shields, however, advanced in the consolation round by beating Methodist's Hayden Wilfong and Kayhahn Alikhani, 8-7 (12-10).

At Flight 3 doubles, the tandem of Levinsson and Woodcock lost to Methodist's Tyler Kane and Brandon Ly, 8-6. However, Levinsson and Woodcock bounced back with an 8-1 victory over Methodist's Owen Findley and Danny Moore.
 
Play continues on Saturday at 9 a.m.