HICKORY, N.C. – The Railsplitter tennis team closed out the 2016-17 regular season with the 5-4 South Atlantic Conference win at Lenoir-Rhyne Thursday evening.

The Railsplitters took a 2-1 lead after doubles as they picked up wins at the No. 2 and 3 flights. Joshua Peress (Montreal, Quebec) and David Segarra (Sabadell, Spain) earned the win at No. 2 with the 8-5 win over Paul Lenz and Alex Ayguavives while Xavier Marti (Tortosa, Spain) and Pepe Batalla (Barcelona, Spain) won over Alex Crespo Sanchez and Tales Miranda at No. 3 by an 8-4 margin. Joshua Coulthard (Staindrop, England) and Jake Tuchmann (Kennesaw, Ga.) fell 8-6 at No. 1.

LMU won at No. 2, 4 and 5 singles to claim the 5-4 victory. Marti defeated Ayguavives 7-5, 6-2 at No. 2 to improve to 17-4 overall and 10-1 vs. SAC competition. At No. 4, Batalla also improved to 10-1 in SAC play with the 7-5, 6-3 win over Lenz. Batalla is now 21-2 overall on the season.

Segarra picked up the 6-7, 6-2, 6-2 win over Miranda at No. 5 to finish the regular season 19-1 overall, 18-0 in non-tournament play, and 10-1 in SAC play. He becomes the first LMU player to earn 10 conference wins in a season and the first to go undefeated in SAC play since Phillip Hoffman went 9-0 in the 2011 season.

The win improves the team to 16-3 overall and 9-2 in SAC play. The nine conference wins are a new school record.

They will be the No. 3 seed in next week's South Atlantic Conference Tournament, which will be held at the Rock Hill Tennis Center in Rock Hill, S.C. from April 20-22. They will face sixth-seeded Tusculum at 9 a.m. on April 20.

Tennis Match Results
Lincoln Memorial vs Lenoir-Rhyne
Apr 13, 2017 at Hickory, NC
(Hickory High School)
Lincoln Memorial 5, Lenoir-Rhyne 4
 Singles competition
1. Hamed Gandouz (LR) def. Joshua Coulthard (LMU) 6-3, 6-2
2. Xavier Marti (LMU) def. Alex Ayguavives (LR) 7-5, 6-2
3. Shane O'Dea (LR) def. Joshua Peress (LMU) 6-3, 3-6, 6-4
4. Pepe Batalla (LMU) def. Paul Lenz (LR) 7-5, 6-3
5. David Segarra (LMU) def. Tales Miranda (LR) 6-7, 6-2, 6-2
6. Alex Crespo Sanchez (LR) def. Carlos Zunino (LMU) 6-2, 6-4
 Doubles competition
1. Hamed Gandouz/Shane O'Dea (LR) def. Joshua Coulthard/Jake Tuchmann (LMU) 8-6
2. Joshua Peress/David Segarra (LMU) def. Paul Lenz/Alex Ayguavives (LR) 8-5
3. Xavier Marti/Pepe Batalla (LMU) def. Alex Crespo Sanchez/Tales Miranda (LR) 8-4
Match Notes:
Lincoln Memorial 16-3, 9-2 SAC
Lenoir-Rhyne 11-10, 4-7 SAC