LOS ANGELES – The University of Denver men's tennis team began the LMU Invite with five combined wins on Friday afternoon.
 
DU opened the day with three doubles matches against UC Irvine, winning two of the three in tight battles. Senior Rikuto Yamaguchi and junior Raffaello Papajcik earned DU's first win before graduate student Connor Robb-Wilcox and freshman Theo Coats snuck out a victory with a late break.
 
In singles, Denver took on host LMU with each team collecting three wins. All three of DU's wins came in straight sets, led by Papajcik and senior Relja Eskic mirroring each other's results with both players claiming a 6-4 set and a 6-2 set. Coats, too, earned a win and lost just one more game than Eskic and Papajcik.
 
Two of LMU's wins came in hard-fought three set battles. Junior Ryoma Mishiro and freshman Samuel Rovai kept things tight in the final frames but ultimate fell by a break in the third.
 
Play continues at the LMU Invite on Saturday with Denver taking on Utah in doubles at 12 p.m. PT/1 p.m. MT before playing UC Irvine in singles at 3 p.m. PT/4 p.m. MT.
 
FRIDAY'S RESULTS
DOUBLES vs. UC Irvine
Papajcik/Yamaguchi def. Fardanesh/Sherif: 8-6
Huang/Krishna def. Mishiro/Rovai: 8-5
Coats/Robb-Wilcox def. Amiryavari/Bui: 9-7
 
SINGLES vs. LMU
Raffaello Papajcik def. Sebastian Nothhaft: 6-2 6-4
Jacopo Denitto def. Rikuto Yamaguchi: 6-0 6-4
Arthur Pantino def. Ryoma Mishiro: 6-4 1-6 6-3
Inigo Diaz def. Samuel Rovai: 0-6 6-2 7-5
Theo Coats def. Sascha Nothdurft: 6-3 6-4
Relja Eskic def. Darius Tamaddon: 6-4 6-2
 
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