Behind a terrific effort from top to bottom, the Shawnee State men's tennis program clinched its highest-ever regular season conference finish and its best tournament seed in program history as the Bears nabbed a 4-2 victory over the Midway Eagles' men's tennis program Tuesday evening at the Daehler Tennis Courts in Portsmouth.

Tuesday's victory moved the Bears to 8-11 overall and 4-1 in River States Conference action -- and sealed the second-highest win total for the men's tennis program in school history. The 2017-18 group won nine games -- but played 29 total matches as opposed to the 19 matches that SSU has currently played as a team this season.

Doubles

Shawnee State clinched Tuesday's doubles point as the No. 2 doubles pairing of Ishamael Dowuona and Ivan Wularu and the No. 3 unit of Abubakar Yakabu Lea and Zinedine Arva Purbo clinched victories over Midway's Daniele Trentin and Owen McCarter and the Eagles' Daniel Pinzon and Aditya Roy Chowdhury, respectively.

Singles

At the No. 1 singles slot, Yakabu Lea notched a 6-0, 6-1 victory over Pinzon to move to 9-6 overall for the season at the No. 1 singles position. Dowuona and Wularu then helped Shawnee State clinch the match from there -- as the duo, in competitive fights at No. 3 singles and No. 5 singles, outlasted their opposition.

Dowuona, playing Midway's German Collado, nabbed a gritty 6-2, 2-6, 7-5 triumph, while Wularu, trailing 1-0 at No. 5 singles after dropping the opening set against Roy Chowdhury by a 7-5 margin, made it completely up with 6-2, 6-3 victories in the final pair of sets to seal the win.

Additional

Shawnee State will look to reach double-digit victories for the 2024 season when the Bears take on Marietta Friday afternoon at 1 p.m. in Marietta and face Mount Vernon Nazarene Saturday afternoon at 12 p.m. for what will be Senior Day at Daehler Tennis Courts.

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