Box Score (.pdf)
Spartanburg, S.C. – The USC Upstate men's tennis team found themselves locked in a tight non-conference match against Presbyterian College on Thursday afternoon, falling to the Blue Hose 4-3 at the USC Upstate Tennis Complex.
USC Upstate falls to 1-2 on the season while Presbyterian College improves to 1-4 overall.
The Spartans opened the match by securing the doubles point to lead the Blue Hose 1-0 after winning at the No. 2 and No. 3 matches. After dropping the No. 1 match, USC Upstate picked up back-to-back wins to take the early lead. In the No. 2 match, the combination of Ankush Arora and Francisco Neto defeated Daniel Stenger and Jaime Castillo-Lopez 6-4. The Spartans followed at the No. 3 match as Luka Eble and Felix Ewers topped Luis Conde and Alejandro Bejar 6-2.
Presbyterian College went on to win four singles matches for the one-point victory. Ewers and Fernando Bernardes both won for USC Upstate in singles play. Ewers captured his No. 1 match in straight sets over Alexander Lykou 6-2, 6-4. Bernardes would go into three sets during his No. 6 match versus Conde but would hold on for the 6-2, 3-6, 6-1 victory.
Arora and Francisco Neto both took their matches into the third set playing at No. 2 and No. 4 singles. Arora, playing at No. 4, fell 2-6, 6-3, 2-6 to Castillo-Lopez while Neto fell at No. 2 to Bejar 6-4, 4-6, 3-6.
COACH'S QUOTE
"We always enjoy playing Presbyterian College because you know that every time it's going to be an absolute battle. Both teams left it all out on the court today and unfortunately things just didn't break our way today. The good news is we played pretty solid doubles today and even though we haven't had our best tennis yet, as a team, we are competing at a high level and giving ourselves chances to be in and win matches." – Tim McLane, assistant coach
UP NEXT
The Spartans start a four-match road trip on Wednesday, Feb. 7 at 2 p.m. against Gardner-Webb.
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