MARS HILL, N.C. - The Newberry College men's tennis team was edged by Mars Hill College, 5-4, Saturday in the 2008 regular season finale for both teams. Mars Hill (13-4, 6-1 SAC) earns the second seed in the South Atlantic Conference Tournament with the win, and they will host Lincoln Memorial in the quarterfinal match on Monday. Newberry (8-6, 5-2 SAC) will take the third seed into the tournament; they will host a yet to be determined opponent on Monday as well.

The third place finish ties the 2008 Indians with last season's team for the highest South Atlantic Conference finish in school history.

The Lions took a bite out of the Indians in the first two doubles matches. Ugras Taylan Batuk and John Allen slipped past Daryl Van Vuuren (Durban, South Africa) and Jeremy Smith (Durban, South Africa), 8-5, in the No. 1 match. Koeche Smith and Esteban Mesa followed with an 8-6 victory over Lucas Mattos (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil) and Maxim Sukharev (Vilnius, Lithuania).

The Indians climbed back into the match with an 8-5 win from Felipe Sobrinho (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil) and Mikael Jurkovic (Atlanta, Ga.) over Camilo Bueno and Cameron Saffer in the third doubles match.

Mars Hill stretched the lead to 3-1 by winning the opening singles point, as Koeche Smith took a three-setter from Van Vuuren, 6-3, 4-6, 6-4. Newberry's Sukharev would respond with a win in the No. 2 slot, edging Allen, 2-6, 7-6, 6-3.

The Lions answered with a win in the third spot, as Batuk clipped Smith, 6-3, 6-4, but the Indians would tie the match at 4-all by winning the next two points.

Lucas Mattos ran his personal winning streak to 10 matches by beating Mesa, 7-5, 6-7 (7-5), 10-7 win over Mesa. Fellow Brazilian Sobrinho outlasted Bueno, 2-6, 6-1, 6-2.

The Lions, however, would take the final singles point and the match. Stevan Stankovic earned a 6-3, 6-3 win over Jurkovic to claim the victory for MHC.

The Indians will learn who they will host in their SAC Tournament Quarterfinal match on Sunday.