NEWBERRY, S.C. - The Cannon Tennis Courts played host to a historic NCAA men's tennis match Tuesday, as the Newberry College Indians downed No. 38 Ferris State, 7-2. The win is the first over a nationally-ranked team for Newberry (3-4, 1-0 SAC) since the turn of the century. Ferris State falls to 2-4 with the loss.

The day started with Newberry taking close victories in all three doubles matches. Daryl Van Vuuren (Durban, South Africa) and Jeremy Smith (Durban, South Africa) eked out an 8-4 decision over Lewis Degenault and Akshay Chellappa in the top flight, followed by Maxim Sukharev (Vilnius, Lithuania) and Lucas Mattos (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil) taking down Kevin Brundle and Corey Banghart 8-5 in the second tier. After the No. 3 team of Felipe Sobrinho (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil) and Mikael Jurkovic (Atlanta, Georgia) won a 9-8 (7-4) thriller over Jeremiah DeJose and Tyler Shelley, Coach Juan Pablo Favero's team had a commanding 3-0 lead heading into singles play.

The Bulldogs would close the gap, however, by taking the opening two individual points. Degenault won a tight 4-6, 6-2, 6-4 match over Sukharev in a battle of aces, while Chellappa went an extra game in both sets to edge Van Vuuren 7-5, 7-5 in the second flight.

That's when the back end of Newberry's line-up cranked things into high gear and carried the Indians to victory. Smith took an important three-setter from Bryan Karazia, 6-3, 2-6, 6-4, followed by Mattos delivering the clinching point with a 6-2, 6-2 drubbing of Brundle. The individual win is the third consecutive for the Brazilian.

Newberry's final two singles players padded the margin of victory with singles wins. Sobrinho swept DeJose 6-0, 6-0, while Jurkovic rallied for his third win in four matches, besting Shelley 5-7, 7-6 (7-4), 10-7.

Favero was understandably thrilled with his team's performance. "I am very proud of the way the guys competed, and it is a big win for them," Favero glowed. "They have been working very hard on the mental side, and it is starting to show as they are coming back from behind and winning close matches. They are gaining confidence each and every match and it is obvious in the way they played today."

Ranked No. 9 in the Southeast Region, the Indians will look to string two wins in a row together for the first time in 2008 when they host Brevard on Thursday.