FAYETTEVILLE, N.C. Methodist's men's tennis team dropped at tight non-conference match against Piedmont University on Sunday afternoon, at home. It came down to the last singles flight, in which the Lions narrowly beat the Monarchs 5-4, at the Gene Clayton Tennis Center.

JUST THE FACTS
Final score: Piedmont def. Methodist, 5-4
Records: Methodist 0-1, Piedmont 2-0
Location: Gene Clayton Tennis Center; Fayetteville, North Carolina

HOW IT HAPPENED

• Piedmont went up 1-0 after the pair of Connor Phelps & Ryan Raugh took down Methodist duo of Evan Kane & Will Trocchi, 8-0. The Monarchs though went on to claim the other two doubles flights -- Matthew Hurley & Andrew Wood against the 1st and Hayden Holloway & Wills Belser versus the 2s -- to take a 2-1 advantage heading into singles.
• Hurley made it 3-1, in favor of Methodist, after winning on the number one court by identical set scores of 6-1. The Lions would even up the team score, 3-3, following victories in flights three and four.
• No. 2 singles saw Belser defeated Alberto Nunez (7-6, 6-1) to put the Monarchs back in front but lose by Cameron Roth of Methodist to Simon Johnstone of Piedmont (6-2, 7-5) evened the match at 4-4.
• The contest came down to the flight between Trocchi and Phelps. The first set was close as Phelps just edged out Trocchi 7-6 before winning the set, and match, 6-2 in the second.

UP NEXT
Methodist is off until Friday, February 24, when they visit the Spiders of the University of Richmond at 3 p.m.