Mars Hill, N.C.—The North Greenville men’s tennis team continued its solid 2014 campaign on Tuesday afternoon, earning a 5-4 decision over South Atlantic Conference member Mars Hill College. 

The Crusaders started the day off on a high note, taking two of three from the Lions in doubles competition. Mars Hill grabbed an early 1-0 lead with an 8-1 win over North Greenville’s Rafael Lenz and Jose Gomez, but the two and three positions would pick up the slack. Sergio Araujo and Santiago Robles would even the tally at 1-1 with an 8-3 victory, while Sjors van Eck and Marcelo Yshikawa would earn NGU a 2-1 advantage with their 8-5 doubles victory. 

Mars Hill would sneak its way back into the game however, with a strong start in singles competition winning three of the first four positions, to take a 4-3 lead. NGU’s only win in the first four singles games was recorded by Sjors van Eck who picked up a 7-6/6-1 victory. North Greenville got just what it needed in the final two singles sets however. Jonathan Stanga earned a hard fought 2-6/6-4/10-5 win to tie the overall tally a 4-4 while Marcelo Yshikawa won his second game of the day in another three point thriller (2-6/6-4/10-5), earning NGU the 5-4 win. 

The Crusaders improve to 8-9 on the season, after the Tuesday win, with another non-conference game waiting against Lander on April 10th in Greer, South Carolina.