Newberry, S.C. – The Erskine Flying Fleet (1-4) beat local non-conference foe Newberry College Wolves (5-3) 5 to 4 to give new Head Coach Hal Thompson is first victory in men's tennis action at Newberry High School.
 
The Flying Fleet picked up two victories in the doubles matches that proved to be the difference in the match.  Wilson Mathewes (Greenville, SC, Mauldin High School) and Jason Harris (Benoni, South Africa, Christian Brothers College) continued their strong play at #1 doubles, notching their fourth victory in five attempts.  At #2 doubles, Andre Andre (Setubal, Portugal) and Alan Pearce (Greenville, SC, Mauldin High School) went down to the wire, pulling out narrow 8 to 7 win.
 
Erskine and Newberry split the six singles matches to give the Fleet the 5 to 4 win.  Harris and Andre cruised through their two respective matches, winning in straight sets.  Mathewes and Pearce needed a tie-breaker set to decide their matches.  Mathewes overcame a first set loss to win in three sets while Pearce lost the tie-breaker that required extra points 12 to 10.
 
For Head Coach Hal Thompson, it is his first collegiate victory.  Coach Thompson replaced his former coach Vardon Cox this past summer.
 
Erskine returns to the courts this weekend for two matches.  On Friday, the Fleet will travel to play North Greenville followed by a match on Saturday at Southern Wesleyan University. 

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