NEWBERRY, S.C. – The Newberry men’s tennis team gave visiting Mars Hill College all they could handle Saturday afternoon, eventually succumbing to the Lions 5-4 in South Atlantic Conference action. Newberry falls to 3-6 (1-3 SAC), while Mars Hill improves to 8-7 (2-3 SAC).
The meeting between these two SAC rivals came down to the final singles match of the afternoon, as the number four pairing of Newberry’s Anthony Rinaldis (Potomac, Va.) and Mars Hill’s Joel Vanderhorst (Santo Domingo, DR) went all three sets. Rinaldis had a match point in the final set, but Vanderhorst fought back to take the match 6-7, 6-0, 7-5, giving the Lions a 5-4 win.
Mars Hill took the top flight in the doubles matches, as Diego Rodriguez (Lima, Peru) and John Allen (Watkinsville, Ga.) dominated Newberry’s Jonathan Ward (Sunney, England) and Dennis Quaye (Fredericksburg, Va.), cruising to an 8-0 victory. Newberry would take the remaining two doubles points, as the Indians would enter the singles portion of the match up 2-1.
But the Lions would take four out of the six singles matches to give Mars Hill the victory. Rodriguez defeated Kaushik Sridhar (Lagos, Nigeria) 6-0, 6-0 in the top flight match. Oscar Gomez (Montevideo, Uruguay) needed three sets to defeat Ward in the meeting of the number twos.
Newberry welcomes Coker College this Wednesday, April 13th, while Mars Hill is back in action when they host SAC rival Catawba on Monday, April 11th.
MT: Newberry College 4, Mars Hill 5
Records: Newberry 3-6 (1-3 SAC), Mars Hill 8-7 (2-3 SAC)
Doubles
#1 Rodriguez/Allen (MHC) def. Ward/Quaye (NEW) 8-0
#2 Morehart/Rinaldis (NEW) def. Vanderhorst/DiLoreto (MHC) 8-6
#3 Elston/Rawlings (NEW) def. Teague/Gomez (MHC) 8-4
Singles
#1 Diego Rodriguez (MHC) def. Kaushik Sridhar (NEW) 6-0, 6-0
#2 Oscar GomezKotaro Noguchi (MHC) def. Jonathan Ward (NEW) 2-6, 6-1, 6-3
#3 Toby Rawlings (NEW) def. John Allen (MHC) 7-5, 6-2
#4 Joel Vanderhorst (MHC) def. Anthony Rinaldis (MHC) 6-7, 6-0, 7-5
#5 Ross DiLoreto(MHC) def. Adam Morehart (NEW) 6-2, 7-6
#6 Oliver Elston (NEW) def. Rom Teague (MHC) 6-2, 6-4
