HILTON HEAD ISLAND — The Newberry College men’s tennis team (6-10, 0-5 SAC) fell 1-6 in their opening match of the PTR Spring Tennis Fest to Division I opponent, the Lehigh Mountain Hawks.
The Mountain Hawks were able to strike first in doubles, clinching the doubles point by taking the No. 1 and No. 3 doubles positions. Mateo Bivol (Bordeaux, France) and Leo Zancheta (Assis, Brazil) were able to put up a strong fight at No. 2 doubles, but they too fell by a competitive score of 4-6.
The Mountain Hawks continued their momentum into singles play, clinching the match overall with wins at the No. 4, No. 5, and No. 6 singles positions, but the Wolves kept fighting. Marcel Schomburg (Bingen, Germany) and Stratas Anastopoulo (Charleston) each provided strong efforts despite ultimately losing at No. 2 and No. 3 singles respectively. However, despite the match being out of hand, Bivol came up big by earning a 7-6, 4-6, 1-0 win at the top singles position after a third-set super tiebreaker against a Division I opponent, demonstrating why he was awarded with the March 14 South Atlantic Conference AstroTurf Men’s Tennis Player of the Week Award.