FARMVILLE, Va. - After facing a challenge from the Lancers in singles action, defending Big South champion Winthrop topped Longwood men's tennis for a 7-0 victory Friday afternoon at Lancer Courts.

Winthrop (7-8, 1-1 BSC) showed their championship pedigree to get through a tough match with Longwood (3-7, 0-3 BSC) which featured three singles bouts that were taken to a third deciding set. The Eagles pick up their first conference win of the season while ending a three-match losing streak.

"Playing the Big South defending champs is never an easy thing to do, but we definitely showed them the improvements that Longwood men's tennis has made over the past seven months," said Longwood head coach Pierre Tafelski. "The guys competed extremely hard and pushed them to the brink at Nos. 1-3 in singles. We believe in ourselves, which doesn't stop us from competing against the top teams in our conference."

At the No. 1, Winthrop's Diego Quiroz made a comeback after Longwood Alfonso Castellano took the first set 7-5. Quiroz went on to win the next two sets 7-6, 10-2 to overcome an early deficit to the sophomore Castellano.

Longwood junior Florian Uffer also put up a battle against the defending champs in his match against Winthrop junior Tremayne Mitchell. After Uffer took the first set 7-6 to have the Eagle junior on edge, Mitchell overcome his own deficit for a 6-1, 6-3 win at the No. 2 slot.

In addition, freshman Julian Farthing, who moved up a spot from his usual No. 4, also showed his own by taking Winthrop's Michael Chen to the brink. The Longwood freshman standout followed a first set defeat with a 6-4 win in the second to take the match to a deciding set, where Chen ultimately overcame the challenge with a 6-4 set win for the point.

One factor in helping Longwood stand up to the reigning top dog in this challenging match was the extra support from the crowd, which included many student-athletes coming out to support the program.

"They brought so much energy to our team. The guys were thankful to receive such positive energy given by the crowd present today," said Tafelski.

After playing back-to-back matches at home, the Lancers will prepare for a three-match road trip which starts with a match at Hampton on Monday, March 21. First serve is set for 3 p.m.

#GoWood
Match Results
Longwood 0, Winthrop 7
Singles
1. QUIROZ, Diego (WIN) def. CASTELLANO, Alfonso (LWU) 5-7, 7-6, 10-2
2. MITCHELL, Tremayne (WIN) def. UFFER, Florian (LWU) 6-7, 6-1, 6-3
3. CHEN, Michael (WIN) def. FARTHING, Julian (LWU) 7-6, 4-6, 6-4
4. TEIXEIRA, Ruy (WIN) def. SANKAR, Bharani (LWU) 6-2, 6-3
5. GOKHALE, Aditya (WIN) def. ILCHEV, Rosen (LWU) 6-1, 6-1
6. RYAN, Joshua (WIN) def. MANSER, Lachlan (LWU) 6-3, 6-2

Doubles
1. MITCHELL/TEIXEIRA, Ruy (WIN) def. CASTELLANO/FARTHING (LWU) 6-3
2. CHEN/GOKHALE, Aditya (WIN) def. UFFER/MANSER, Lachlan (LWU) 6-3
3. QUIROZ/RYAN, Joshua (WIN) def. SANKAR, Bharani/ILCHEV, Rosen (LWU) 6-2