CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. – Wofford College men's tennis senior Parks Thompson rallied to win a third-set tiebreaker to earn the Terriers a close 4-3 match victory over the Mercer Bears in the Southern Conference Tournament quarterfinals Friday.
 
The Terriers (10-12, 3-4 SoCon) defeated the Bears (10-16, 4-3 SoCon) with wins in two of three doubles matches and three of six singles matches. With the match squared at 3-3, Thompson overcame Mercer's Arnav Mohanty in a decisive third set, winning his match 7-5, 2-6, 7-6 (7-4) to advance Wofford to their second straight semifinal appearance.
 
"I'm proud of the courage we showed today," Head Coach Rod Ray said after the match. "The guys have worked relentlessly and today it showed."
 
Juniors Andrew Graham and Haris Poric started Wofford's day with a 6-3 doubles win at the two position over Sam Philip and Arnav Mohanty. Mercer countered with a doubles win at the three spot, with Zacharie El Ayat and Fernando Guardia defeating Wofford junior Trevor Gotkowski and freshman Kyle Barr 6-4.
 
The senior duo of Thompson and David Sklar however clinched the doubles point for the Terriers, scoring a 6-4 victory over Arsav Mohanty and Ruben Vanoppen of Mercer.
 
In singles, Mercer took the first three singles points of the match. Sklar fell in straight sets to Nicholas Guillon 6-3, 6-2 at the three position.
 
Poric at the one spot battled Philip of Mercer to a third set before falling 6-1, 1-6, 6-4. Terrier sophomore Parks Schoen also took his opponent Arsav Mohanty to a third set at the five spot, winning the first but dropping the next two to lose 4-6, 6-3, 6-3.
 
Barr started the Terrier comeback with tightly-fought three-set victory over Mercer's Anderson Scarpa at the four position. He won the first set 6-2, fell in the second 3-6, but rallied to take the third set 6-3 for his seventh singles victory this season.
 
Graham continued the momentum for Wofford, also taking his opponent Vanoppen at the six spot to a third set after falling in the first 4-6. Graham battled his way to a 7-6 second set victory before sweeping the third set 6-0 to tie the overall match at 3-3.
 
Graham's win set up Thompson's thriller at the two position. Thompson came out on top in a close 7-5 first set before falling 2-6 in the second. The duo battled back and forth to a 6-6 tie in the third set, forcing a tiebreaker. Thompson overcame Arnav Mohanty in that tiebreaker 7-4 to win the match for Wofford.
 
The win marks the second straight season that Wofford defeated Mercer to advance to the semifinals of the Southern Conference tournament. It is also Wofford's third-ever appearance in the semifinals in program history. Rain in Chattanooga forced the match indoors to McCallie Boarding and Day School and initially delayed the start of the match one hour and 30 minutes.
 
The Terriers will be playing the number-one seeded and defending-champion ETSU Buccaneers in their semifinal matchup that begins at 10 a.m. Saturday at the Champions Club in Chattanooga, Tenn.