CHARLOTTE, N.C.- The Queens University of Charlotte men's tennis teams split their matches over the weekend falling to Barton College and defeating conference rival Belmont Abbey College. The Royals are now 1-2 in conference play and 5-2 overall. Barton has a 3-1 overall record (1-0 CC) and Belmont Abbey is 0-2.

The Royals traveled to Barton College on Saturday afternoon to play what was a very exciting match that came down to the wire. The Bulldogs who are ranked 13th in the southeast region came out with the win squeaking pass the Royals for a 5-4 victory. Singles victories were split evenly between the two teams as Joshua Bloch (Johannesburg, South Africa, King David), Raahil Dhruva (London, England, Parmiter's), and Alex McKinzie (Austin, Tex., Lake Travis)each scored wins for the Royals. Bloch won in the two spot in three sets of play (7-5, 4-6, 6-2). McKinzie had to battle through three sets as well to come out on top (3-6, 6-3, 6-2).

In the doubles action is where the deciding factor occurred. Queens won one of the three doubles games played which gave Barton the win. Christiaan Lee-Daigle (Tecumseh, Ontario, L'Essor Secondary School) and Dhruva beat Peron and Desilets of the Bulldogs 8-1 for the victory at the number two spot.

On Sunday afternoon, Queens was able to play Belmont Abbey after bad weather conditions pushed the match back a few days. The Royals dominated the competion winning the match 9-0. Queens strength, speed, and power made it hard for the Crusaders to score a point throughout the match. Belmont got their most points in the number one doubles spot, but Lee-Daigle and Bloch proved to be too much taking the game 8-3.

The Royals are back in action on March 6th in a home match against Erskine College at 11:00 a.m.