MINNEAPOLIS, Minn.- Alvaro Gutierrez and senior team captain Matheus Pereira fell in their quarterfinal match of the doubles competition on Sunday at the USTA/Central Region Championships at the Baseline Tennis Center.

Anis Ghorbel and James Mckie of Drake defeated Gutierrez and Pereira in a close match, 9-7, to end the duo's run at regional championship.

"Overall, it was a solid regional tournament for us that made a bit of a statement for our team," said head coach Brad Louderback. "Our doubles play is getting stronger with every match."

Erick Reyes and freshman Tin Ostojic were able to turn their fall season around during the weekend. They came into the regional championships with a 1-2 record, but after making it to the round of 16, they evened their record at 3-3 for the fall.

The Shockers had to fight through a grueling and tiresome four days of competition against top players from good programs.

"Matheus is a great competitor and he showed a lot of guts in two, come-from-behind wins in both singles and doubles on Saturday," added Louderback. "He and Alvaro also showed a lot of poise to come back and make it to the quarterfinal match in doubles."

Reyes and Guillermo Nicol continued their good fall season, winning decisively in their singles matches, before falling in close matches that could of went either way. Sophomore and reigning Missouri Valley Conference Freshman of the Year Tomislav Gregurovic, showed some good things, even in a match he lost.

"Erick had break points in the second-set against the number one seed from Oklahoma (Costin Paval) that could of made the difference in the match, and Guillermo had a strong win over Richard Del Nunzio from Oklahoma State," said Louderback. "Tomislav had a great three-set match with Oklahoma State's number one player (Rifat Biktyakov)."

The Shocker men will now have an almost three month break before they will compete in the Missouri Valley Conference Individual Championships, January 18-20 in Des Moines, Iowa.

-WICHITA STATE-