MACON, Ga. – The Wofford College men's tennis team opened up Southern Conference play Saturday afternoon at Mercer University, falling to the Bears 5-2 at LeRoy Peddy Tennis Center.
 
The Terriers (6-7, 0-1 SoCon) fell in both doubles matches but picked up two singles victories in the day.
 
"Mercer played tough," Head Coach Rod Ray said after the match. "We will improve from today. Today's performance was both surprising and disappointing."
 
The Bears (4-11, 1-0 SoCon) started off the match with two doubles wins at the two and three positions. Freshman Alan Poric and junior Andrew Graham were defeated at the two spot 6-2 by Mercer's Arsav Mohanty and Ruben Vanoppen, while senior David Sklar and sophomore Jack Thomas suffered a 6-3 defeat at the three spot against Mercer's Fernando Guardia and Nicholas Guillon.
 
Junior Haris Poric and senior Parks Thompson also competed for the Terriers at the one doubles position. Their match against Mercer's Arnav Mohanty and Sam Philip played close, but was left unfinished with the match tied at 5-5.
 
In singles, Haris Poric and Thompson both won their respective matches for the Terriers. Poric at the one position prevailed over Philip 7-5, 6-4 to improve his singles record to 10-2 for the season. Thompson suffered a setback in the first set of his third-position match against Arnav Mohanty 3-6, but rallied to take the next two sets 7-5, 10-1 to earnt the victory.
 
Alan Poric, Sklar, Thomas and freshman Kyle Barr also competed in singles for the Terriers. Poric fell at the two spot to Guillon 6-1, 6-3. Sklar played his opponent Anderson Scarpa at the four position to a close 7-5 defeat in the first set and lost the second set as well 6-1.
 
Thomas played Guardia at the six position to a neck-and-neck first set but ultimately lost 7-6, 6-2. Barr fell in straight sets to Arsav Mohanty at the five spot 6-4, 6-2.
 
"We're addressing and making some adjustments," Coach Ray said. "Tomorrow can't come fast enough."
 
The loss drops Wofford's record against Mercer to 7-4 in the Division I era and a 1-2 record in conference matches since Mercer joined the SoCon last season. Wofford also beat Mercer in the conference tournament last year.
 
Wofford faces a quick turnaround before its next match, playing Sunday afternoon at Samford at 2 p.m. CT, 3 p.m. ET.