HICKORY, N.C. - The Newberry College men's tennis team took advantage of several strong performances to edge Lenoir-Rhyne on Friday for the squad's first South Atlantic Conference win of the season, 5-4.

Newberry improves to 2-10 overall and 1-5 in SAC play. The win gives head coach Felipe Sobrinho his first career SAC win as a coach and Newberry its first of the year. L-R drops to 1-14 on the year and 0-7 in the SAC.

Down 2-1 after doubles play, Newberry would need to take four singles matches from the Bears to pull out a win. Maxim Sukharev (Vilinus, Lithuania) gave the scarlet and gray a first-flight win with a 7-6, 6-2 takedown of Hernando Saavedra. Pavle Popovic (Belgrade, Serbia) provided Newberry with a thrilling win to climb closer, knocking off Brian Reid, 7-5, 7-5. At the third flight, Lucas Mattos (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil) powered past David Jackson, 6-2, 6-2, and Christian Ranguelov (Vienna, Austria) sealed the team's win with a 6-2, 6-2 victory over Graydon Dunn. The outcome gave Ranguelov his team-leading 10th win of the season. In other singles matches, Scott Busbee (Columbia, S.C.) lost to Matt Gaines, 6-3, 6-0, and Samuel Cartin (Irmo, S.C.) fell to Michael Owens, 6-0, 6-0.

Newberry fell behind after doubles as the Bears jumped out to a 2-1 lead. The team of Popovic and Ranguelov earned Newberry a doubles victory with an 8-4 win over Dunn and Saavedra. The team of Sukharev and Mattos came up short against Jackson and Reid, 8-3, and Busbee and Cartin fell to Nate Summer and Michael Owens, 8-2.

The scarlet and gray will look to build on their momentum win they return home to host SAC foe Tusculum on Saturday, April 10. The match is scheduled to begin at 2 p.m.