Rock Hill, S.C.----The Anderson (S.C.) University men’s tennis team won the three doubles matches and survived a furious Wingate University rally to take a 5-4 victory in the championship match of the Food Lion South Atlantic Conference tournament Saturday afternoon at the Rock Hill Tennis Center. The Trojans earn the league’s automatic qualification to the NCAA Division II play-offs in their first year of SAC competition.

Number 29 Anderson (13-8 overall) avenges a 5-4 home loss to number 39 Wingate (17-4 overall) on April 11. The Bulldogs see a 13-match winning streak end Saturday. Wingate will await word on a potential at-large bid to the NCAA Division II play-offs.

In the battle of ranked teams, Wingate dropped three doubles matches for only the second time this season. The Bulldogs roared back, taking four singles matches to take a 4-3 lead. Senior Braeden Patchell (Oakville, Ontario) started the rally, taking a 6-1, 6-2 over Anderson’s Daniel Gonzalez at the number singles flight.

Wingate freshman Ryan Forbes (Charlotte, N.C.) outlasted Loic Ambrose 6-4, 7-6 in the number six singles tilt. Bulldog junior Flavio Rathsam (Sao Paulo, Brazil) rallied after dropping the first set, outlasting Ilya Zakharov 5-7, 6-0, 6-1. Rathsam’s countryman Fernando Montemurro (Sao Paulo, Brazil) gave Wingate its first lead with a 7-6, 7-5 victory over Trey Halbauer.

Anderson’s Stan Atema won the battle of the number one players, edging Wingate junior Matthew Lichtenstein (Darnestown, Md.) 4-6, 6-4, 6-2. The match was decided on court two, as Anderson’s Deni Mehagic won a three-set thriller over Wingate junior Andrew Owen (Kitchener, Ontario). Owen won the first set 7-5, with Mehagic taking the second set by the same score.

The third set featured more plot twists than a soap opera. Mehagic spurted to a 3-1 lead, only to have Owen tie the set at 3-3. Owen continued his success, taking a 5-4 advantage. Mehagic won the next two games to take a 6-5 lead. Owen responded by sending the penultimate set to a tiebreaker. Mehagic won the tiebreaker by a score of 7-4.

Anderson won the three doubles matches by scores of 8-4, 8-5 and 9-8 (one through three). Montemurro and junior Greg Machado (Sao Paulo, Brazil) lost the number three doubles match by the 9-8 margin to Anderson’s Halbauer and Jerome Branker.

The 2011 season was one of the most successful in Wingate’s senior college history. The Bulldogs went undefeated (9-0 overall) in SAC regular season play. Wingate head coach Michael Cabana was named the SAC men’s tennis Coach of the Year. Lichtenstein, Owen and Rathsam were named to the All-SAC team, while Patchell was recognized as the SAC Scholar-Athlete Award winner for men’s tennis.