BLACKSBURG, Va. – Members of the Saint Joseph's men's tennis team opened play at the 2015 ITA Mid-Atlantic Regional Championship at Virginia Tech's Burrows-Burleson Tennis Center on Thursday morning.  Senior Kevin Gates, sophomore Peter Dewitt, and freshman Andre Fick took part in singles qualifying draw matches to compete for a spot in the main draw.

Fick routed Liberty's Jason Burgess, 6-1, 6-0, before outlasting Georgetown's Mac Rechan, 4-6, 6-0, 6-4, to earn a berth in the main draw.

Gates cruised to a 6-0, 6-1 win over Nikhil Mannapalli of Radford in his opening match before falling to David Botti of Old Dominion, 6-4, 6-3.

Dewitt was felled in his opening match as Conor Moran of George Mason came away with a 7-5, 2-6, 6-1 victory.

The championship runs through the weekend, concluding with singles and doubles finals on Tuesday.