BRUNSWICK, Maine -- The Bates men's tennis team got the ITA Regional Championships off to a strong start on Friday, with a number of Bobcats winning matches and advancing to Saturday's action.

In doubles play, senior Cameron Kania (Middlefield, Conn.) and junior Alexander Gujarathi (Plymouth, Mass.) got a bye into the round of 32 as one of the seeded teams. They took care of business there, defeating the Wesleyan duo of Harry Collomb and Tai MacDonald by a count of 8-6, qualifying for the round of 16. A victorious Tufts team had to withdraw, so Kania and Gujarathi will head straight to Saturday morning's quarterfinals. 

Elsewhere in doubles action, senior Leo Kupferman (Montclair, N.J.) and junior Matthew Danielson (St. Petersburg, Fla.) won their round of 64 match by a count of 8-6 before falling 8-4 to a seeded Bowdoin team in the round of 32.

Gujarathi picked up a couple of impressive wins in singles play. He defeated a seeded opponent in Amherst's Ed Opie by a score of 6-3, 6-3 in the round of 64. He followed that up with a 6-1, 6-4 win over Roger Williams University's Jon Trevethan. Gujarathi will take on Bowdoin's Tristan Bradley in the round of 16 at noon on Saturday. Bradley is the two seed in the field of 64. 

Senior Nick Forester (Falmouth, Maine) will play on Saturday as well. He earned a bye in the Singles "B" Draw and defeated his opponent from Amherst by a count of 8-6 in the round of 32. Fellow senior Teddy Koide (Morristown, N.J.) earned a dominant 8-0 win in the round of 64 before falling 8-6 in the round of 32.