MOBILE, Ala. - For the second straight day, the 10th-seeded Owls squared off against a regular-season opponent at the 2024 NAIA Men's Tennis Championship. And for the first time since 2018, William Woods (19-5) advanced to the quarterfinals with a 4-1 win over no. 7 seed Southeastern (18-7).

In contrast to the teams' meeting at the 2024 ITA/NAIA Team Indoor Nationals, Woods started off hot in the rematch, dominating all three doubles matches to claim the point. Vaclav Schneider and Vitek Subert were again the first to score for Woods, finishing off Mark Griffin and Piero Fernandez at the two line with a 6-4 win. Ben Grumley and Zinovii Nahirniak clinched the point for WWU, avenging their February loss with a 6-2 win over Bruno Pessoa and Diego Menendez Vina.

Singles was an absolute dogfight, as Menendez Vina leveled the match score for Southeastern with a 6-3, 6-1 win over Grumley at the two line. Subert at the five and Andres De Los Rios Kolejewska at the six put Woods back in front 3-1, Subert with a 6-1, 2-6, 6-2 win over Victor De Oliveira and De Los Rios Kolejewska with a 6-4, 7-6(5) win over Griffin.

Southeastern was not content to go silently, however, picking up first set wins at the three and four lines. The Fire started to turn the momentum at the one line as Pessoa rallied after a 6-1 first set loss to a 6-0 second set win, then pulled out to a 5-2 lead in the third.

Stepan Mach answered at the four line by winning five of the last six games in the second set to tie his match at 1-1, setting the stage for a dramatic finish to the match.

As soon as the drama had reached a peak, however, it was quickly deflated as Southeastern's Alejandro Orihuela was forced to retire at the three line, delivering the match-clinching win to Nahirniak and the Owls.

William Woods is set to face off against no. 2 Tennessee Wesleyan at 9 a.m. on Thursday.

Match Results
Doubles
1 | Grumley, Ben/Nahirniak, Zinovii 6-2 over Pessoa, Bruno/Menendez Vina, Diego
2 | Schneider, Vaclav/Subert, Vitek 6-4 over Fernandez, Piero/Griffin, Mark
3 | De Los Rios Kolejewska, Andres/Diedrichs, Felix 5-4 (abd) Orihuela, Alejandro/De Oliveira, Victor
Order - 2, 1

Singles
1 | Schneider, Vaclav 6-1, 0-6, 2-5 (abd) Pessoa, Bruno
2 | Menendez Vina, Diego 6-3, 6-1 over Grumley, Ben
3 | Nahirniak, Zinovii 6-7(5), 1-1 over Orihuela, Alejandro by retirement
4 | Mach, Stepan 4-6, 6-4 (abd) Fernandez, Piero
5 | Subert, Vitek 6-1, 2-6, 6-2 over De Oliveira, Victor
6 | De Los Rios Kolejewska, Andres 6-4, 7-6(5) over Griffin, Mark
Order - 2, 5, 6, 3