BANNER ELK, NC - The Belmont Abbey men's tennis team won a 6-3 match today over Lees-McRae in Banner Elk.  The victory moves the Crusaders to 12-6 on the season with a 3-0 record in Conference Carolinas play.  The Bobcats are now 1-6 on the year and 0-1 in conference play.

Freshman George Barfoot had the fastest singles match, which he won 6-1, 6-0.  Next was James Delaney with a 6-4, 6-2 performance at #3 singles.

The Abbey took the #2 and #3 doubles matches both by scores of 8-5.

Singles

1. Gabriel Muniz (LMC) def. Juan Baez (BAC) 6-4, 3-6, 10-3
2. Garrett Lakey (LMC) def. Grant Goldin (BAC) 6-4, 7-6 (4)
3. James Delaney (BAC) def. Sebastian Zuhr (LMC) 6-4, 6-2
4. George Barfoot (BAC) def. Brandon Caldwell (LMC) 6-1, 6-0
5. Zachary Blythe (BAC) def. Cole Douglas-Fields (LMC) 6-4, 6-4
6. Carlos Nolasco (BAC) def. Thomas Deeley (LMC) 6-3, 6-4

Doubles

1. Garrett Lakey/Gabriel Muniz (LMC) def. Juan Baez/James Delaney (BAC) 8-7 (13)
2. Zachary Blythe/Grant Goldin (BAC) def. Cole Douglas-Fields/Sebastian Zuhr (LMC) 8-5
3. Jacob Andress/Michael Rapsik (Belmont Abbey) def. Grant Miller/Thomas Deeley (LMC) 8-5

Head Coach Michael Salomon offered the following comments: "We found a way to dig deep and get the job done today against an extremely tough LMC team.  I think we took them a little bit for granted after our match last year and they really made us pay early for that - pulling ahead 3-2 before we were able to close out the remaining four singles matches."

Up next for the Crusaders is a March 21 trip to Young Harris College, where the team will take on the host Mountain Lions as well as North Georgia.