ST. PETER, Minn. – The St. Olaf College men's tennis team began its fall by competing in the Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) Midwest Regional Championships and Midwest Open on Friday and Saturday at various sites in St. Peter.

Sophomore Lou Smith, senior Bogdan Vizoli, and junior Marjan Veldic represented St. Olaf in the singles competition in the ITA Regional, while the pairings of Vizoli/Smith and Veldic/sophomore Madden Vanderwerf competed in the doubles draw.

Smith and Veldic both posted straight-set singles victories in the first round, with Smith defeating Eamon Garrard Stace of the College of St. Scholastica, 6-3, 6-0, and Veldic getting past Rhys Biro-Moore of Luther College, 6-4, 6-3. All three Oles fell in straight sets in the second round after Vizoli had a first-round bye.

In doubles, Veldic/Vanderwerf won their opening-round match in a tiebreaker, 8-7 (7-4), against Maxi Gutbezahl and Alexander Doane of Grinnell College before falling to the No. 2-seeded duo of Theo Billson and Charles Morgan of UW-Whitewater, 8-4, in round two. Vizoli and Smith dropped their first-round match, 8-5, to Francisco Silveira and Linus Bangert of Carthage College.

In the Midwest Open singles draws, Vanderwerf went 1-1 in the "B" draw, falling in a super tiebreak in round two to Luke Hinchcliffe of UW-La Crosse after a straight-set win in round one. Junior Joe O'Flaherty added a first-round victory in the "F" draw, outlasting Logan Carroll of UW-Eau Claire by a 6-2, 5-7, 1-0 (10-6) score before dropping a tight two-setter to Sean Sonoiki of Loras College.

Junior Cathal Mee and sophomore Daniel Meunier picked up a first-round doubles victory in the "B" draw with an 8-5 win over Momin Durrani and Kai Pierce of Concordia-Moorhead before bowing out in round two.

St. Olaf will host UW-Superior for the first of its two dual matches this fall on Friday, Oct. 3 at 3:30 p.m. at Carlson Courts.