FLORENCE — Newberry suffered back-to-back losses in the final day of the City of Florence College Tennis Invitational with a 5-3 loss to No. 9 Lander followed by a 5-3 decision against Francis Marion.
No. 9 Lander 5, Newberry 3
The Wolves faced ninth-ranked Lander in the second round of the invitational after sweeping Barton 5-0 on Friday.
Newberry’s only doubles point of the match came after No. 2 Nikhil Mannepalli and Angel Pizarro defeated Lander’s Cildir and Courteau 8-6.
Lander overpowered the Wolves in singles action earning three of the last five points. No. 1 Edison Ambarzumjan beat David Korsten 6-4, 6-2 in a dominant victory while No. 4 Pizarro picked up his second point of the day with the 6-0, 6-4 decision.
The effort would not be enough as the Bearcats would pick up the win to advance to the championship round where they would knock off Wingate for the title.
Francis Marion 5, Newberry 3
Newberry returned to the court for their second match of the day, but fell to Francis Marion in a 5-3 decision.
No. 3 Jordan Monosky and Alex Amble replicated their doubles success from the previous day with an 8-3 win to pick up the Wolves only doubles point in the match.
The Wolves were narrowly edged out by Francis Marion in singles competition despite victories from No. 1 Edison Ambarzumjan and No. 3 Nikhil Mannepalli. Both had straight-set wins with Ambarzumjan going 6-4, 6-0 while Mannepalli finished 6-4, 6-4.
No. 2 Jose Navarro and No. 5 Monosky each played three sets but could not grab the win from their Patriot counterparts.