NEWBERRY, S.C. - The Newberry College women's tennis team faced a tough test on Saturday when the squad hosted regionally-ranked Tusculum and fell after a hard-fought contest, 8-1.

Newberry moves to 1-13 overall and 0-8 in South Atlantic Conference play. Tusculum, who entered the match ranked No. 11 in the Intercollegiate Tennis Association's Division II Southeast Region rankings, improves to 16-2 overall and 7-1 in the SAC.

Autise Mortimer (Nassau, Bahamas) continued her winning ways with her fourth straight singles victory. Mortimer knocked off Katelyn Doss, 7-5, 6-2, to give Mortimer her team-leading eighth win of the year. In other singles matches, Amanda Simmons (Saluda, S.C.) fell to Taylor Patterson, 6-1, 6-1, Rebekah Crouch (Saluda, S.C.) lost to Caroline Crowe, 6-3, 6-0, and Stephanie Matthews (Saluda, S.C.) dropped a match to Megan Buckmaster, 6-0, 6-0. Lindsay Kyzer (Saluda, S.C.) also fell to Katie Hillis, 6-0, 6-0, and Tusculum earned another win after a Newberry default.

In doubles action, the team of Mortimer and Matthews nearly took down Crowe and Doss but came up just short, 8-6. Crouch and Simmons lost to Courtney Conley and Keefer, 8-0, and Tusculum's Blake Thompson and Hillis won after a Newberry default.

Newberry returns to SAC play on Monday, April 12, with a road test against Mars Hill. The match is scheduled to begin at 3 p.m.