Hampden-Sydney College opened its fall season on September 15-16 at the Marlin Fall Invitational, which included matches against Virginia Wesleyan University, Averett University, and Methodist (NC) University.

Friday saw H-SC take on Virginia Wesleyan in both singles and doubles action. It was doubles that took place first with the pair of junior Barrett Foster and freshman Thomas Davis falling 8-3. The next two matches finished with the same result as the pair of sophomore Casey Coffey and sophomore Dillon McReynolds and the pair of juniors Taylor Fox and Matt Kendrick fell in a tiebreaker 8-7(6). Junior Henry Singleton and sophomore Tanner Allison fell 8-6 and so did sophomore John Glassner and junior Nick Beaudoin.

The Tigers got two wins in singles action against the Marlins, the first coming from McReynolds, who fell behind early losing the first set 7-5 before taking the final two sets 6-4, 10-7. Davis in his first collegiate singles match got the victory in two sets, taking the first 7-5 and the second 6-1. Foster battled to three sets in his match, falling in the first set 6-4, before evening the match with a 6-3 victory but falling in the third set 10-6. Singleton fell in set one 6-2 but battled back in set two, forcing a tiebreaker which he eventually fell 7-6(2). Coffey fell in his singles match on the day 6-0, 6-2 and Fox also was bested in his singles match 6-0, 6-1. Glassner was beaten 6-2, 6-3 in singles action, and Allison and Beaudoin both fell by 6-1, 6-2.

Saturday saw the Tigers face off with another Old Dominion Athletic Conference (ODAC) opponent in Averett. The two sides only played doubles and H-SC started off with an 8-3 victory by Foster and Davis. Coffey and McReynolds and Kendrick and Allison both were beaten by 8-6 scorelines. Fox and Singleton were bested by the Cougars 8-4, while Glassner and Beaudoin fell 8-1 in the final doubles match against Averett.

Next up for H-SC on Saturday was Methodist University, playing both doubles and singles. It started off with doubles action, getting two tiebreaker victories to start with, first from Foster and Davis with an 8-7(2) victory and second from Coffey and McReynolds, as they secured an 8-7(4) victory. Fox and Singleton cruised to an 8-1 victory, while Glassner and Beaudoin took a dominant 8-0 victory. In the final doubles match for the Tigers, Kendrick and Allison grabbed an 8-4 victory to sweep the doubles matches.

McReynolds made it two for two in singles action, taking a 6-1, 6-0 dominant victory over the Monarchs. McReynolds was joined by Davis, who stayed unbeaten in singles action as well as he took a 6-1, 6-3. Fox grabbed his first singles victory of the weekend with a 6-3, 6-1 victory and Beaudoin grabbed a victory in his singles match 6-0, 6-2. Foster battled in his singles match, falling 6-4 in the first set before being bested in a tiebreaker in set two 7-6(4). Kendrick forced three sets in his match, after dropping the first set 6-4, he battled to take a 7-5 victory in set two, before playing a great third set which he lost 13-11. Coffey fell in his match 6-2, 6-1 while Glassner fell by an identical 6-4, 6-4 scoreline.

The Tigers will be back in action on September 29 and 30, when they travel to the University of Mary Washington for the Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) South/Southeast Regional.