MARS HILL, N.C. - The Lenoir-Rhyne Men's Tennis Team swept Mars Hill, 7-0, to earn its first competitive victory of the spring and take the conference opener. 

Although the match ended with a one-sided result, the contest began in thrilling fashion as the doubles point came down to a tiebreaker. 

After Rufus Plane and Vadym Rogynskyi captured the No. 1 doubles match with a 6-3 decision, the Lions roared back to win the No. 2 doubles match in a 6-4 result. 

With the point being weighed on the outcome of the No. 3 doubles match, Nevio Dux and Connor Donley prevailed in the set, 7-6 (5), to win the first point of the afternoon. 

Following a spectacular ending to doubles, the Bears found the singles matches to play out much more calmly. Plane, who played at No. 3 singles, cruised his way to a 6-3, 6-1 victory. 

Meanwhile at No. 5 singles, Raphael Champaud gave the Bears another straight-set victory as the sophomore produced a 6-4, 6-3 win. 

Zachary Cox, the No. 1 singles player, found himself in a competitive opening set that went the distance to a decisive tiebreak. Although the junior could not pull out the set with a 7-6 (1) defeat, Cox turned it around by winning the next two sets, 6-1, 6-2, to clinch the match for the Bears. 

While the match played on, Dux added another win to his afternoon as the junior secured a 6-2, 6-0 victory at the No. 2 singles line. Then for Dux's doubles partner, Donley, the freshman played out a pro set at the No. 6 singles line and took care of business with an 8-2 result. 

To round out the match for the Bears, Rogynskyi took a straight-set victory at No. 4 singles by the score of 7-5, 6-4 to complete the first sweep of the season. 

UP NEXT: The Lenoir-Rhyne Men's Tennis Team will continue in conference play with another road contest against Anderson on Saturday, Feb. 24 at 2:00 p.m.