FLORENCE, S.C. (March 18) – The University of Mount Olive men's tennis team suffered a 6-1 loss in their conference opener against the Patriots of Francis Marion on Saturday afternoon at the John Kassab Courts.

With the loss, the Trojans drop to 0-1 in conference play and 6-5 overall. Meanwhile, Francis Marion improves to 1-0 and 6-5 this season.

Francis Marion earned the doubles point sweeping all three sessions. In the first position, junior Guilherme Zotin de Oliveira and freshman Daniel Hammond were dealt a 6-2 loss against Liam Day and Leonel Gonzalez, while juniors Adam Ibrahim and Diego Ortega Cadahia dropped to Martin Barbera and Luis Lopez Sarasa with a 6-4 count. In the third position, sophomore Elios Briand and freshman Bram Poel suffered a 6-4 loss against Harri Lloyd-Evans and Adam Emberg.

In singles, the Patriots continued by strongly winning five out of six matches to seal the team victory. In the first session, de Oliveira lost a three-set match against Day with a score of 6-1, 5-7, 6-1 before Hammond fell short to Barbera with a 6-4, 7-6 (7-4) margin in second singles. In the third position, Ibrahim dropped to Lloyd-Evans in three sets 6-3, 3-6, 1-0 (11-9). Senior Israel Rodriguez Rojas suffered a 6-4, 6-3 loss versus Gonzalez in No. 4 singles, while Poel was defeated by Lopez Sarasa in three sets 3-6, 6-4, 1-0 (10-8) in the fifth slot. Freshman Kabir Chhabria captured the only win of the day overcoming Niklas Plath 6-3, 7-5.

The Trojans will play a series of home matches in the following weeks, beginning on Tuesday, March 21, at 2:00 p.m. against Chowan at John Neal Walker Tennis Center.