NEWBERRY — The Newberry College men’s tennis team (6-6, 0-2 SAC) gave a gutsy effort in a 5-2 loss to the Tusculum Pioneers on Feb. 24, at the Oakland Tennis Center.
Doubles play set the tone early for this match. The Pioneers claimed the early advantage by taking the No. 1 doubles position 6-2, but the pairing of Stratas Anastopoulo (Charleston) and Enzo Blavignat (Bordeaux, France) caught fire, coming away with a 6-1 victory at No. 3 doubles. However, despite a solid effort from Mateo Bivol (Bordeaux, France) and Leo Zancheta (Assis, Brazil), the Pioneers won the No. 2 doubles match 6-2, claiming the doubles point.
The Wolves came out swinging in singles play as Blavignat overcame a tough second set that ultimately ended in a tiebreaker to win the No. 5 singles position by a score of 6-1, 7-6, (7-5). Tusculum struck back with a victory at No. 3 singles, but Bivol held his ground to tie up the match again with a 6-3, 6-4 win at No. 1 singles. However, the Pioneers claimed victories at both the No. 2 and No. 4 singles positions to clinch the match. Zancheta split the first two sets with his opponent 7-5, 5-7, but despite a valiant effort, he would fall by the narrowest of margins (11-9) in the third set super-tiebreaker.