NEW ORLEANS, La. – The Belhaven men's tennis team lived up to their preseason 12th ranked billing, defeating conference opponent Loyola in the 2013 season opener 7-2.

Things did not start as planned for the Blazers with the combination of Nikita Lisov and David Mejia losing at first doubles in a tiebreak. Loyola's Tarun Surat and Jaron Belcher put the first match points on the board for the Wolfpack by taking the final two points of the tiebreak.

The number one doubles match was a seesaw battle back and forth, but Loyola was able to win the match by the slightest of margins. College doubles matches are played as eight game pro-sets with a tiebreak if the two teams are tied at seven.

With Loyola and Belhaven's number ones knotted at seven, they were required to play a tiebreak to decide the match. The winner would need to reach seven points first and win by two. The Wolfpack and Blazers again found themselves tied at five in the tiebreak before Surat and Belcher won the last two points to take the set. Jefferson Nino and Andres Yepez teamed up at second doubles to defeat Loyola's twos 8-2, giving Belhaven their first match point.

The Wolfpack only dressed five athletes on Friday afternoon, which meant they were forced to forfeit matches at third doubles and sixth singles. The two extra points gave the Blazers a 3-1 lead heading into the five singles matches.
Nino lost his first regular season singles match as a Belhaven Blazer, losing to SSAC newcomer Surat in a third set tiebreaker to make the match 3-2. Nino bumped up to the top singles spot for Belhaven after spending most of 2012 at the third singles position.

The Blazers would not drop another match on the afternoon with Lisov, Mejia, Daniel Prado and Enrico Patriarca all won in straight sets to wrap up the victory. In fact the four only dropped two games combined in the four matches for some convincing style points.

Belhaven returns to the courts a week from Saturday in their home opener versus crosstown rival Tougaloo. The Blazers won both matchups with the Bulldogs 9-0 when they met last season.

Doubles:
1. Tarun Surat/Jaron Belcher (LOY) def.  Nikita Lisov/David Mejia  (BU)   8-7 (7-5)
2. Jefferson Nino/Andres Yepez (BU) def.  Joshua Laviolette/David Mayhall (LOY)   8-2
3. Daniel Prado/Enrico Patriarca (BU) def.  DEFAULT

Singles:
1. Tarun Surat (LOY) def.  Jefferson Nino (BU)  6-4, 2-6 (11-9)
2. Nikita Lisov (BU) def. Jaron Belcher (LOY)  6-0, 6-1
3. Daniel Prado (BU) def.  Joshua Laviolette (LOY)  6-0, 6-0
4. David Mejia (BU) def.  David Mayhall (LOY)  6-0, 6-1
5. Enrico Patriarca (BU) def.  Eduardo Garcia (LOY)  6-0, 6-0
6. Andres Yepez (BU) def.  DEFAULT