CLEVELAND – The University of Dayton men's tennis team began the Viking Invitational hosted by Cleveland State on Friday at Medical Mutual Tennis Pavilion.
 
The Flyers opened the event in doubles play with senior Joe DeMarco and junior Matt DeMarco advancing to the quarterfinals of the event after knocking off Tanner Bedard and Eduardo Villalpando of Niagara 6-2. The pair will take on Youngstown State's Nathan Favier and Clement Mainguy on Saturday.
 
Junior Oliver Dunne and sophomore Erik Eliasson also won in the back-draw of the doubles event, taking down Niagara's Manuel Alonso and Jorge Sedeno 6-3, setting up a match with Hugo Chatras and Austin Staiger of Cleveland State.
 
Dayton then moved on to singles play, with three Flyers advancing to the Round of 16. Matt DeMarco kept the momentum from doubles play by taking down Manuel Alonso 6-4, 4-6, 1-0 in the first round. The junior then moved on to take down Charlie Temming of Xavier in straight sets 7-5, 7-5 to set up Saturday's match against Laurentiu Mandocescu of Youngstown State.
 
Joining him with wins in the main draw are junior Connor Bruce and freshman Eric Perkowski. Bruce won his lone matchup of the day, besting Youngstown State's Will Everett in straight sets 6-1, 7-6. The junior will play Jorge Sedeno of Niagara Saturday at 1:30 p.m.
 
Perkowski also won in straight sets over Eduardo Villalpando 6-3, 6-0, setting up a Round of 16 matchup with Buffalo's Finn Macnamara.
 
Three Flyers also picked up wins in the first round before falling in the Round of 32. Eliasson took down William Gothlin of Niagara 6-1, 6-3. Sophomore Ronit Hiryur defeated Hugo Chatras 4-6, 6-4, 1-0 and freshman Davis Phillips won against Tanner Bedard 7-5, 6-4.
 
In the back-draw, Dunne advanced past the first round, winning against Niagara's Gurustat Makkar 4-6, 6-1, 1-0. The junior will take on Austin Staiger Saturday at 1:30 p.m.
 
Play on Saturday will begin at 9:00 a.m. beginning again with doubles.