WILKES-BARRE, PA (September 17, 2023) -- John Toussaint and Patrick Pech had great tournaments in their season openers, winning titles at No. 2 and No. 3 singles, respectively, to lead the King's College men's tennis team on day two of the King's Invitational at Kirby Park. Play was canceled during the doubles tournament due to inclement weather in the area.
 
Toussaint battled to set wins of 6-2 and 6-4 over FDU-Florham's Ronald Duval in the semifinals before advancing to the championship bout. Facing Manhattanville's Shiel Loganadan, Toussaint cruised to wins of 6-1 and 6-2 to secure the title at No. 2 singles.
 
Pech posted a pair of 6-2 set victories in the No. 3 singles semifinals over Manhattanville's Carter Hunter-Crump to earn his spot in the finals match. He then defeated FDU-Florham's Kevin Liwag, defeating Liwag 6-1 in the first set and then 7-6 with the tiebreaker in the second to claim the second title in the invitational for the Monarchs.
 
Elsewhere in singles action, Logan Gregory earned a spot in the finals, sweeping Penn College's Alexander Norris by a pair of 6-0 sets. Gregory faced Scranton's Maxwell Dombrowski in the finals and made a valiant effort before falling, 7-5 and 6-3, in a thrilling match in the No. 1 singles final.
 
At No. 5 singles, Brendan Turowski went against a tough opponent in Scranton's Harrison Clark as Turowski fell, 6-2 and 6-3, in the bracket's semifinal match up.
 
The No. 6 singles bracket saw Cody Zheng clear the semifinal round with set wins of 6-4 and 6-2 over Elizabethtown's Isaac Reichenbach before falling by a pair of 6-1 decisions to Susquehanna's Daniel Murphy in the finals.
 
King's had their fifth appearance in the singles finals in the No. 7 singles bracket as Jacob Nelson defeated Susquehanna's Carson Barry, 6-3 and 6-4, to advance to the finals match up. Nelson then took on Scranton's Lucas Kotcho and fell, 6-1 and 6-0, in the finals at No. 7 singles.
 
The No. 1 doubles pair of Toussaint and Gregory had their match suspended against the pair from FDU-Florham, trailing 4-3, in the semifinals. At No. 3 doubles, Brendan Turowski and Jacob Nelson did not get a chance to battle through a semifinal match against Susquehanna before the rain set in to the area. The final bracket of the invitational saw the No. 4 doubles crew of Alexander Nole and Zackary Bedwell fall, 8-3, to Misericordia in the semifinals.
 
The Monarchs will return to Kirby Park next Saturday, September 23 as they host Moravian University in a non-conference match. Play is set to begin at 12:00 p.m.