FLORENCE, S.C. – The Newberry College men's tennis (4-0, 0-0 South Atlantic Conference) team opened their time at the City of Florence College Tennis Invitational with a victory over the hosting Francis Marion Patriots, 6-2.

Due to the format of the tournament and restrictions due to court conditions, the singles points were played first, and the doubles point was only played if necessary. 

The back four of the Wolves' lineup came in clutch for the Wolves, securing three of the Wolves' points after Mateo Bivol (Bordeaux, France) and Marcel Schomburg (Bingen, Germany) dropped their matches at the one and two.

Laurenz Grabia (Altdorf, Germany) first claimed a three-set, 6⁵-7⁷, 7-5, 6-2, victory to get the Wolves on the board. Lawrence Friedland then secured the point at the five in straight sets, 7⁷-6³, 6-4. And finally for the singles portion of competition, Joshua Fritz (Waiblingen, Germany) took his opponent to four sets and won the third point for the Wolves: 6-4, 4-6, 6-1.

Grabia and Schomburg secured the first victory in the doubles portion of competition easily by a score of 6-1. Bivol and Fritz then secured a tighter, 6-4, match at the one to claim the doubles' point and the match for the Wolves, 4-2.

"Great team win for the guys. They played for each other," reflected head coach Elias Fernandez on his team's success on the court in the invitational's first day. "This is a great start of the season and we look forward to tomorrow's challenge."

That challenge comes in the form of the Lander Bearcats on Saturday, Feb. 4 as the Florence Invitational continues. The match is set to start at 9 A.M.