ROCK HILL, S.C. – Winthrop men's tennis (7-9, 2-3 Big South) won the opening doubles point and No. 1 singles for an early lead, but fell short in a 4-3 defeat against Radford (12-3, 3-1) Wednesday afternoon at Rock Hill Tennis Center.

HOW IT HAPPENED 
-Winthrop brought high energy to the opening point as Connor Williamson and Lluis Miralles posted a 6-0 shutout at No. 3 doubles and No. 1 duo Aditya Gokhale/Gabriel Dias clinched the point with a 6-3 win.
 
-Leading off singles play, senior Diego Quiroz cruised to a 6-2, 6-0 victory over Yeyhen Sirous at the No. 1 position to give the Eagles an early 2-0 lead.
 
-The Highlanders evened the scoreboard with a pair of wins at the Nos. 4 and 6 positions as freshmen Alberto Tinagli and Miralles were defeated in straight-sets.
 
-Radford took its first lead of the day with a victory at No. 2. Rodrigo Magalhaes defeated Winthrop's Williamson 6-2 in the first set and was up an early break in the second 2-1. Williamson was able to briefly even the match at 4-4 on a break, but Magalhaes earned a 6-4 second set and match win.
 
-Gabriel Dias kept the Eagles' hopes alive with a straight-set victory at No. 3. In his first set, Dias took a 5-4 lead on a break and put up a big hold for the 6-4 set win. Heading into the second set, Dias battled back from down a break to tie it up at 3-3 on serve. The junior wouldn't look back, going on to win 6-3 and tie the team score at 3-3.
 
-The match decision would come down to a third set at No. 5. After trading a pair of 6-4 set wins in the first and second sets each, Gokhale and Radford's Matko Varga began the deciding third set just as Dias evened the team score. Varga snagged early momentum, breaking Gokhale's serve in the first game. Gokhale never found a groove and Varga earned a 6-1 third set win and the match.

NOTABLES
 
-Today's loss marks the first time this season the Eagles have not won the overall match after winning the opening doubles point.
 
-Winthrop falls to 2-3 in the Big South with just three matches remaining in the season, all conference contests.
 
-The Eagles have dropped four-consecutive matches for the first time since the first four matches of the 2018 season, which were all against nonconference competition.
 
-Dias joined Quiroz as the second Eagle with double-digit singles wins.
 
UP NEXT
The Eagles are on the road on Fri., Mar. 29 at Campbell at 2 p.m., then return for their final home match of the season on Sun., Mar. 31 at 2 p.m. against Gardner-Webb.

FULL RESULTS

Singles
1. QUIROZ, Diego (WIN) def. Yevhen Sirous (RAD) 6-2, 6-0
2. Rodrigo Magalhaes (RAD) def. WILLIAMSON, Connor (WIN) 6-2, 6-4
3. DIAS, Gabriel (WIN) def. Alexandros Caldwell (RAD) 6-4, 6-3
4. Michiel Meekers (RAD) def. TINAGLI, Alberto (WIN) 6-3, 6-2
5. Matko Varga (RAD) def. GOKHALE, Aditya (WIN) 4-6, 6-4, 6-1
6. Andres Silva (RAD) def. MIRALLES, Lluis (WIN) 6-3, 6-4

Doubles 
1. GOKHALE, Aditya/DIAS, Gabriel (WIN) def. Yevhen Sirous/Rodrigo Magalhaes (RAD) 6-3
2. TINAGLI, Alberto/QUIROZ, Diego (WIN) vs. Alexandros Caldwell/Michiel Meekers (RAD) 5-4, unfinished
3. WILLIAMSON, Connor/MIRALLES, Lluis (WIN) def. Matko Varga/Andres Silva (RAD) 6-0
 
Order of finish: Doubles (3,1); Singles (1,4,6,2,3,5)