DANVILLE, Va. – No. 36 Averett University men's tennis went toe-to-toe with Ferrum College in its home opener at the Averett Tennis Courts, but lost 4-3 on Sunday afternoon.
Averett (1-3) dropped the first doubles match to start, but rallied back to take the overall point with wins at No. 1 and No. 3.
Lucas Fiandra and
Alex Rudy capped off the 1-0 lead with a 6-3 win over Emanuel Ferreira and Tobi Teller.
Into singles, Ferrum (4-1) and the Cougars split the first two matches. Fiandra tallied the second point for Averett with a convincing 6-0, 6-2 win against Teller. The Panthers then won at No. 1 and No. 4 to go up 3-2, before
Roger Pamies Petit got Averett back into the swing of things with a 6-3, 6-0 win versus Gabriel Alvarez.
Down to the No. 5 singles rubber, Rudy and Brian Karenzi duked it out for three full sets, and even went the distance in the last set, as well. Ferrum's Karenzi pulled out the tiebreak win, 7-5, and won the Panthers the dual.
The Cougars go back to Salisbury, Maryland for a rematch against No. 39 Salisbury University on Saturday, March 10. Start time is set for 10 a.m.
