BOONE, N.C. – A late rally fell just short as Appalachian State University men's tennis was unable to outlast a nationally-ranked Furman squad in a 4-3 loss in Southern Conference play on Thursday at the Appalachian Tennis Courts.

The Mountaineers (7-10, 4-1 SoCon) suffered their first league and home losses of the season while the Paladins (12-7, 6-0) remain atop the league standings with a perfect conference record.

Appalachian started things off on the right foot as it won the doubles point by taking two of three doubles matches. The No. 1 team of Sebastien King/Zach Bost earned an 8-5 win before Furman earned an 8-4 win at No. 3 doubles.

With the doubles point hanging in the balance, the Mountaineers' No. 2 tandem of Oliver Casey/Daniel Hoang hung on in a tiebreaker to win 8-7 (7-6) and give App State the first point of the match.

Furman responded quickly as its top player, Adam Steryous, earned a 6-0, 6-2 win over King at the No. 1 spot. Steryous entered the match ranked No. 94 overall in the latest ITA rankings. The Paladins tacked on another point to make it 2-1 when Ben Horst defeated Jan-Willem Kleynhans at the No. 6 spot (6-4, 6-2).

Jack Maddocks picked up his 10th win of the season and moved to 10-7 in singles play when he earned a 6-2, 6-3 win at the No. 5 spot to tie the match at 2-2.

The Paladins picked up another win as Luke Synn defeated Hoang at No. 3 (6-3, 6-4) to give Furman a 3-2 advantage, but Bost earned a 7-6, 6-1 win at No. 4 to tie things at 3-3.

In the decisive match at No. 2, Casey fell 7-6 in the first set and trailed 5-4 in the second before pulling even, but ultimately fell by a 7-6, 7-5 tally.

Appalachian State returns to action on Saturday when it heads to UNCG for a noon match before coming back to Boone on Sunday for an 11 a.m. contest against Chattanooga.

#75 Furman 4, Appalachian State 3
Apr 03, 2014 at Boone, N.C. (Appalachian Tennis Courts)