This post was written by Hatchet reporter Ellee Watson.

Junior Francisco Dias marched into to the International Tennis Atlantic Regional Championships semifinals this week, but could not clinch a bid to the indoor championships.

Dias, ranked No. 94 in the country, lasted longer than any other men’s player competing in the Virginia-based tournament. He took down several nationally ranked opponents, including No. 51 Harrison Richmond of Virginia and No. 66 Andreus Bjerrehus of Virginia Tech, to make it to the semifinals.

But his loss to No. 59 Carlos Lopez Villa of Old Dominion in a three-set battle ended GW’s tournament run.

Five Colonials made the trip to Virginia Tech for the tournament, including Dias, senior No. 70 Nikita Fomin, senior Viktor Svensson, sophomore Danil Zelenkov and freshman Daniel O’Connor.

Fomin, Dias, Svensson and  Zelenkov all received byes through the first day of the tournament, but Fomin, Svensson and Zelenkov all fell on Sunday after winning two matches. O’Connor too won their first singles match on Friday, but were defeated on Saturday, O’Connor by his first nationally ranked oponent, #117 Justin Shane of UVA.

In doubles’ competition, partners Svensson and Dias won their doubles’ match to advance to Saturday, where they, and the other pair of Zelenkov and Fomin, then won again to advance to Sunday. On Sunday, doubles play ended for the men’s team, as Svensson and Dias were defeated and Fomin and Zelenkov lost their match to Virginia Tech’s No. 17 ranked doubles team of Andreas Bjerrehus and Amerigo Contini.

“Francisco played great in doubles as he was serving and returning better than ever,” head coach Greg Munoz said in a press release. “Viktor has been working really hard and his efforts have paid off. In singles, Daniel showed a lot of maturity after he dropped a few match points and regrouped to finish strong and win the match.”

The men will open their spring season against No. 41 Brigham Young University on Jan. 20.