CHARLOTTE, N.C. – The men's and women's tennis teams hosted Mount Olive College in a highly-competitive Conference Carolinas match today. In a six hour match that came down to the final point with the women winning 5-4 on a third set tie-breaker and the men losing 5-4.
 
Men's recap
 
The men opened their match by picking up two hard-fought points in doubles. From the one spot it was the pairing of Joshua Bloch (Johannesburg, South Africa, King David) and Per-Erik Soler (Nice, France, Lycee du Parc Imperial) who went head-to-head with a tough conference foe and were able to pick up a win in tiebreakers by the score 9-8. Also picking up a point for the Royals was the ever steady paring of Andre Bafume (Leme, Sao Paulo, Brazil, Ateneo) and Gustavo Munhoz (Santos, Brazil, COC Universitario) by the score of 8-6.
 
In singles it was a red-hot Bloch who set the pace for the Royals with a furious match against the number one for Mount Olive. Battling back-and-forth Bloch was able to pick up a two set victory by the score of 6-2. 6-4. Next up with a win was the junior Bafume who defeated his opponent by the score of  6-4,6-2. The Royals were able to even the team points to four a piece, but were unable to gain the advantage in a tightly contested three set match.
 
Women's recap
 
In doubles the Royals picked up an early point through the strong number two pairing of Morgan Roberts (Fort Pierce, Fla., Treasure Coast) and Amanda Poole (Douglasville, Ga., South Paulding). The steady pair battled back and forth with their opponent, and picked up the win by the score 8-4.
 
In singles the Christina Rustscheff (Toronto, Canada, Bayview Glen) opened the second half of the match with a big 6-2, 6-1 win from her number one position. Also picking up a singles win was Erin Williams (Arden, N.C., T.C. Roberson) who rallied from a one set deficit to win by the score of 4-6, 7-6, 6-0.
 
With the score knotted at 3-3 it was Poole who pushed the Royals ahead with 6-3, 6-1 win. But, the Trojans were able to equalize and force the final point to be decided by a Farina Rafiq (Truro, Nova Scotia, Canada, Cobequid Educational Centre) win in a third set tie breaker.
 
Following the match the men are 4-2 and the women are 6-2. Both teams travel to Belmont Abbey tomorrow at 1:00 p.m.