Mobile, AL – The 11^th-seed UC men's tennis team rallied with strong singles play to knock off #22 Mobile 4-2 in the opening round of the NAIA Tournament Tuesday night.   With the win, Cumberlands extends their win streak to 13 straight matches and advances to the second round of the national tournament.

Martin Muller and Hung Ju Wu continue to lead the Patriots doubles pairing as the duo teamed up for a 6-4 win at #2 doubles to give UC the early advantage.  The tandem of Muller and Wu have improved their record to 17-8 on the season.  Mobile rallied with a 6-4 win at #3 doubles to tie the point.  At #1 doubles, Cumberlands top tandem of Mattis Le Montagner and Quentin Villetorte battled Alex Verdu and Joao Pedro.  The two doubles pairs traded points until the match was tied at 6-6 forcing the tiebreaker, which the Rams ultimately took 7-5 to jump out to the 1-0 lead.

Cumberlands looked to rally in singles and a straight set win from Christian de la Fuente Nodado at #3 singles tied the match at 1-1.  De la Fuente Nodado defeated Aoi Kambara 6-1, 6-4 for his 16^th win of the season.  Mobile tallied a win at #6 singles, before Muller defeated Luis Perez 6-4, 6-2 at #2 singles to even the score at 2-2.

Wu put the Patriots in front 3-2 after defeating Segio Ruiz Ramiro 6-4, 6-4 at #5 singles.  For Wu, it was his sixth consecutive singles win and improve his record to 16-4 overall on the season.  For the second straight match it was Le Montagner who recorded the clinching point.  After dropping the first set, the junior rallied to win the second 6-2 over Joao Pedro Okano to force the third set.  The two traded points early in the set, however, Le Montagner pulled away to clinch the set 6-2 and the match as his win give Cumberlands the 4-2 final.

Killian Surmont won the first set at #4 singles and was leading 2-0 in the third set when play was halted.

The Patriots advance to the second round, where they face sixth-seed Northwestern Ohio.  First serve is set for 2 p.m. ET on Wednesday, May 17.

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