FREDERICKSBURG, Va. -- Longwood University opened its 2012-13 men's tennis campaign with competition at the UMW Kickoff Classic hosted by the University of Mary Washington on September 15-16 in Fredericksburg.  The Lancers were led by senior Giorgi Khmiadashvili|Tbilisi, Georgia (Public School 148) along with sophomores Daniel Elston|St. Austell, Cornwall, England (Ralph Allen School), Harry Kelleher|Sydney, Australia (St. Aloysius College) and Steed Johnson|Ahoskie, N.C. (Needham B. Broughton) with respective 3-0 records in singles while winning their respective flights.  Johnson and freshman James Fudge|Kaarst, Germany (Millfield School, England) (3-0) teamed to win their doubles flight too.  Longwood will compete again this weekend, Sept. 21-23, at the Elon Fall Invitational hosted by Southern Conference member Elon University in North Carolina.
   
“Overall, it was a successful weekend,” said second year assistant coach Tobias Fanselow.  “The guys really worked hard and got rewarded with good results.  There were a few things I saw that we need to work on, and we will try to do that in practice this week so we are prepared for the tournament at Elon.
   
“Steed went undefeated in both singles and doubles and that is a fantastic start to the year. Giorgi, Dan and Harry also went undefeated in singles, and Eddie (Becker) came back from a loss in the first match to win the next two, ending on a positive note.  Bharani (Sankar) and James both won their first collegiate matches and I'm looking forward to what these guys can do in future tournaments.”
   
Khmiadashvili won matches over Jordan Dyke of George Mason University (6-3, 6-3) and Jimmy Davis of GMU (6-4, 6-2) before winning the Flight A final against Robert Kjellberg of North Carolina Wesleyan (7-5, 0-6, 6-4).  Elston won matches over Tanner Baine of GMU (7-6 [0], 6-4) and Taylor Shamshiri of Washington & Lee (6-2, 6-0) before winning the Flight B final against Tyler Carey of UMW (6-4, 6-4).  Kelleher won matches over Kaleb Nguyen of UMW (6-1, 6-2) and Clayton Sonn of NCW (6-1, 6-1) before winning the Flight D final against Scott Keaton of GMU (6-4, 6-2).  Johnson won matches over Panayot Kusidi of NCW (6-0, 6-3) and Brian Krouskos of W&L (6-2, 6-3) before winning the Flight E final against Aaron Capitel of GMU (6-3, 6-2).  Johnson and Fudge won their doubles matches over W&L (8-3) and UMW (9-7) before winning the Flight C final against W&L (8-6).
   
Junior Edward Becker|Sydney, Australia (Manly Selective Campus) (2-1) was the Flight C runner-up, falling to David Lunding-Johansson of UMW (3-6, 4-6) before gaining wins past Mike Goldstein of W&L (6-4, 6-2) and Mike Konnov of NCW (7-6 [0], 3-0 default).  Fudge (2-1) was the Flight F runner-up, defeating Sean Gould of UMW (6-2, 6-2), falling to Patrick Mulquin of GMU (2-6, 6-2, 4-6) and defeating Ryan Byrd of UMW (6-4, 6-0).  Freshman Bharani Sankar|Glen Allen (Deep Run) (1-2) finished third in Flight F, falling to Mulquin of GMU (6-7 [6], 4-6) and Conor Moran of GMU (4-6, 2-6) before defeating Gould of UMW (6-2, 1-6, 6-4). 
   
Khmiadashvili and Elston (2-1) were runners-up in Flight A doubles with a win against GMU (8-4), after winning their first round match against NCW (8-6) before falling in their semifinal to another pair from GMU (2-8).  Becker and Kelleher (2-1) were runners-up in Flight B doubles with a win against GMU (8-4), after winning their first round match against NCW (8-4) before falling in their semifinal to another pair from GMU (4-8).