NEWBERRY, S.C. - The Newberry College men's tennis team found itself tied with the South Atlantic Conference preseason favorite after the first two singles matches, but could come no closer as it dropped its first SAC match of 2011, 7-2, to the Anderson Trojans.

“Anderson is the odds on favorite to win the conference this year, and we came out today and really competed with them,” said first year head coach Mark Gardiner. “Even though we only won two matches, we had some more that came down to the end and that's very encouraging to see.”

The singles matches were kicked off by Michael Saunders (Christchurch, New Zealand) facing preseason SAC second team member Stan Atema. The pair had to go to an extra game to settle the first set, and Atema took the lead with a 7-6 set one finish. Saunders tried to pull even and send things to a third set but fell by a score of 6-3.

Vinicius Botelho (Fortaleza, Brazil) kept his winning streak intact by posting a 6-1, 6-2 victory over Ilya Zakharov. In the No. 3 slot, Mohammed Chakir (Rabat, Morocco) dropped a close match to Deni Mehagic, 6-4, 6-2. David Sons (Lexington, S.C) found himself on the wrong end of a 6-2, 6-1 decision against Daniel Gonzalez while Jeffery Kiser (Newberry, S.C.) lost his match against Trey Halbauer 6-1, 6-2. Michael Woolard (Lexington, S.C.) finished the singles bouts with a 6-2, 6-2 setback against Loic Ambrose.

Doubles action featured another Newberry victory when the duo of Saunders and Chakir bested Zakharov and Gulbinovic 9-8 in the No. 2 match. Unfortunately, that was when the scoring would conclude for the scarlet and gray as Botelho and Sons dropped an 8-4 decision to Atema and Gonzalez. Kiser and James Bethea (Newberry, S.C.) couldn't find their way into the win column, losing to Mehagic and Halbauer 8-1.

The Wolves will return to action on February 17, when they play host to the Coker Cobras. The matches at the Cannon Courts are set to get started at 3 p.m.