NEWBERRY, S.C. - An air of upset wafted around the Cannon Tennis Courts Sunday afternoon, but the Newberry College Lady Indians could not finish the deed, falling 5-4 to No. 37 Tusculum. The loss drops the Scarlet and Gray to 1-9, 0-3 in SAC play, while the Pioneers improve to 15-5, 4-1 in the SAC.

Newberry opened the proceedings with a bang, as Autise Mortimer (Nassau, Bahamas) and Lauren Hartley (Beamsville, Ontario, Canada) thumped Carolina Crowe and Katelyn Doss, 8-0. The sweep is the first Newberry has administered in doubles play this year.

Tusculum did recover to take the last two doubles points. Amanda Pike and Jennifer Sparks won a close 8-6 match over Bethany Poppe (Califon, N.J.) and Chanelle Clare (Nassau, Bahamas), while Blake Thompson and Bronwyn Hartley defeated Danielle Beckerle (St. Louis, Mo.) and Kelly Cheesborough (Harlem, Ga.), 8-0.

Down by a point, the Lady Indians would wrestle away control of the match by taking the first three singles points. Hartley, playing No. 1 singles for just the second time all season, bombarded Sparks, 6-0, 6-4. Mortimer followed by taking a close three-setter from Bronwyn Hartley, 6-3, 6-7 (7-3), 6-1, and Clare kept the train rolling with a 7-6 (7-2), 3-6, 6-1 win over Pike.

Up 4-2, the Lady Indians needed just one more point for an upset of the nationally-ranked Pionners, but they could not slam the door. Doss upended Poppe, 6-2, 3-6, 6-3, and Thompson tied it up with a 6-0, 6-1 win over Beckerle.

That set up a winner-take-all match in No. 6 singles, with Tusculum's Heidi von der Lage clinching the match with a 6-2, 6-2 win over Brittany Grooms (Sumter, S.C.). The 5-4 deficit is the third single-point loss for Newberry in as many South Atlantic Conference matches.

Newberry's next crack at a SAC win comes Tuesday against Lenoir-Rhyne. The Lady Indians and Bears will square off at 3:30 p.m. in Hickory, N.C.