LYNCHBURG, Va.- Appalachian State University men's tennis earned its first win of the young season Saturday evening, as the Mountaineers defeated Liberty in a 4-3 thriller. With the win, the Black and Gold improve to 1-1 on the 2009-10 campaign, while Liberty drops to 1-2 on the season.

The Apps began the match on a strong note, notching wins in two of three doubles matches.

The team of Trent Constance and Peter Jacobs defeated their opponents easily 8-5 at the number one doubles spot, while Philip Kloc and Alain Humblet secured the doubles point winning 8-4 over Giancarlo Lemmi and Chad Simpson.

Suffering the only defeat in doubles play of the match, Luka Vujinovic and Britton Webb came up just short to Ben Wirth and Louis Steyn at the number three doubles spot, falling 8-5.

The Flames however quickly re-took the match advantage as Constance and Jacobs both fell in two sets to their opponents at the number one and two singles spots. The Mountaineers' would rally, as Kloc, Humblet and freshman Andrew McKinnonn reeled off three straight victories at the three, four and five positions.

Humblet handily beat Simpson, 6-3, 6-3 while Kloc cruised past Lemmi in two sets and McKinnonn beat Wirth 6-4, 6-2.

Capping off singles play, Ezekiel Sansing came up just short in a hard fought match at the number six position, falling 6-4, 3-6 and 17-15 to Louis Steyn.

Looking to continue its winning ways, ASU returns home to host Lees-McRae, Monday February 15 with the match slated to begin at 5 p.m.