NEWBERRY, S.C. - The Newberry College women's tennis team scored its first win of 2008 Thursday, taking a 5-4 nailbiter from the Brevard College Lady Tornados at the Cannon Tennis Courts. The win moves Juan Pablo Favero's team to 1-7, while BC falls to 6-3.

The Lady Tornados took control of the match in its early stages, taking two of three doubles points. Lindsay Shaefer and Kimberly Dixon teamed up to defeat Lauren Hartley (Beamsville, Ontario, Canada) and Bethany Poppe, 8-6 in the top flight. Brevard's No. 3 team of Kimberlee Cooper and Merek Slagle also earned a point, downing Danielle Beckerle (St. Louis, Mo.) and Kelly Cheesborough (Harlem, Ga.), 8-3. Newberry's only point of the first half came in the middle flight, where Autise Mortimer (Nassau, Bahamas) and Chanelle Clare (Nassau, Bahamas) doubled up Kayley Duval and Sara Douglas, 8-4.

The Lady Indians were in whirlwind of trouble when Shaefer took the top singles match over Mortimer, 6-3, 2-6, 6-3, to extend the Brevard lead to 3-1. But Newberry responded with a streak of singles victories that altered not just the course of the match, but also the course of their season.

Hartley started Newberry's parade of wins, dominating Dixon, 6-2, 6-1. Clare tied the match up in the third round, coming from behind to drop Duval, 6-7 (4-7), 6-4, 6-1, and Poppe put Newberry on top for the first time on the afternoon with a 6-4, 7-6 (7-5) victory over Douglas.

Needing just one more point to finally open their 2008 victory account, the Lady Indians turned to Grooms, and the Sumter native responded like a true veteran, outlasting Cooper 6-4, 7-5 for her first individual win of the season, but more importantly, the Newberry team's first win of 2008.

Brevard would take the match's final point, as Slagle scored a win over Beckerle, 6-2, 6-1. The teams also played an exhibition singles match, with Cheeseborough dropping Emily Barrick, 8-4.

A euphoric Favero was captivated by his team's performance.

"To come back and see our two through five singles players each get wins which they had to have was an awesome thing to watch," Favero beamed. "The effort of Brittany (Grooms) especially to buckle down and get us that final point was huge for this team. We became a team today, and we won as a team."

The Lady Indians hope to win back-to-back matches Saturday when they host No. 33 Erskine. The match is slated to begin at 2:30 ath the Cannon Tennis Courts