BOX SCORE

ROCK HILL, SC-- The Winthrop men's tennis team earned its first conference win of the season with a 5-2 decision over rival UNC Asheville on Tuesday at the Rock Hill Tennis Center.
 
The Eagles improve to 1-1 in Big South play and 2-9 overall. Winthrop begins a busy two-week stretch with six matches starting this Friday afternoon at Campbell.
 
The doubles action went down to the wire before the Eagles won the point by winning the No. 2 and No. 3 matches. Ruy Teixeira and Leandros Papayiannis teamed to win the clinching point with a 7-6(6) win over James Massie and Edward Colclough at the No.2 position. That win followed a 6-1 victory on the No. 3 court by Joshua Ryan and Aditya Gokhale. The No. 1 duo of Diego Quiroz and Gabriel Dias went down 7-6(3).
 
Singles play started well for the Eagles as Ryan ran away with a 6-2, 6-1 win at no.6 to put the Eagles up 2-0. Asheville made it a 2-1 match as Teixeira fell at the no.2 position. Papayiannis then stepped up for the Eagles to take a 6-3, 6-3 win at No. 3, giving the eagles a 3-1 lead.
 
The Bulldogs won their second points at No. 1 as Quiroz then fell to Henry Patton 6-2, 6-3. From that point, however, it was all Winthrop as Dias clinched the match with a 6-3, 6-1 win at No.4, followed by Gokhale's victory at No.5.