MARS HILL, N.C.— The Montreat College men's tennis team traveled just down the road to Mars Hill, N.C. Thursday afternoon for a nonconference team dual match against the Mars Hill University Lions, an NCAA Division II institution. Despite taking the doubles point, the Cavaliers dropped a narrow 4-3 final as they fell to 1-2 on the young campaign. Meanwhile, the Lions improved to 3-0 this year.
 
Getting off to a great start, the visitors grabbed all three doubles matches to claim an early 1-0 edge on the team scoreboard. Youssef Idboufous and Fabrizio Moreno seized a 6-4 triumph on the top court, while Lucas Descalzi and Vitor Monteiro did the same in the second doubles matchup. Joaquin Hernandez and Paul Saemann rounded out the clean sweep with a 7-5 victory on the third court.
 
Mars Hill bounced back in singles action by taking four of the six clashes. Descalzi secured a 6-2, 6-2 win at No. 1, and Saemann captured a 6-1, 6-2 triumph on the fourth court; however, the Lions secured the other four matchups. Moreno and Hernandez forced decisive third sets at No. 3 and No. 5, respectively. The former dropped his bout via a 6-4, 3-6, 6-3 scoreline, while the latter suffered a tight 6-7, 7-5, 6-4 loss. Idboufous won seven games across two sets in his battle on the second court. Meanwhile, Ben Smith picked up five games playing at No. 6.
 
Additionally, the two sides played a handful of exhibition matches that didn't count toward the dual score. In doubles action, Julian Stolevski and Smith lost a competitive 7-6 clash. Stolevski also fell in his extra singles match, 8-4. Jayden McConnell joined in on the singles exhibitions as well, dropping all eight of his games played.
 
The Montreat College men's tennis team wraps up the fall portion of its schedule on Saturday, Oct. 25 with an exhibition team dual match at Milligan University.