DELAND, Fla.—The Mercer tennis teams lost a pair of matches at Stetson in Atlantic Sun tennis action Saturday afternoon at the Mandy Stoll Tennis Center.

The Mercer women dropped a 7-0 decision in the second match of the doubleheader Saturday, while the men's team opened the proceedings with a 5-2 setback.  The women's team dropped to 2-6 overall and 0-2 in the A-Sun, while the men fell to 3-7 overall and 0-2 in conference matches.

The win improves Stetson's women to 7-1 overall and 2-0 in A-Sun play, while the men's team improved to 11-2 overall and 2-0 in league matches.

In the women's match, Mercer did pick up a victory at the No.1 doubles position, as Jennifer Lada and Lucie Payrat continued their strong play in tandem this season, as the duo picked up an 8-6 win over Stetson's Sara Lazarevic and Clarke Tatje.

However, the doubles point had already been decided in the Hatters' favor, as Diana Bukajeva and Jen Miller picked up an 8-0 win over Amanda Bertani and Melanie Schulimas and Jen Miller at the No. 2 position, while Lindsey Cable and Shannon Gunning were 8-1 winners over Mercer's Katherine Cooper and Sarah Hanna at the No. 3.

The Bears came close to picking up a victory at the No. 1 position, as Payrat pushed Lazarevic to the limit before dropping a 6-7, 5-7 decision to Lazarevic. After dropping matches at the No. 6 and No. 3 positions, the match would be decided at the No. 5 flight, as Cable picked up a 6-1, 6-0 win over Hanna.

The men's match saw the Bears pick up a pair of wins in singles play, but the No. 59 Hatters won the doubles point, and added victories at the No.5, 1 and 2 positions to clinch the win.

After dropping the doubles point, Mercer drew even in the match with Vincent DeLise's convincing 6-2, 6-0 win over Stetson's Erik Halaj at the No. 6. However, the Hatters, who claimed their fifth-straight victory, posted three successive victories to take a 4-1 match lead and clinch the win.

Mercer's only other singles victory came at the No. 3 position, as Joao Pagan claimed a 6-3, 5-7, 1-0 win at the No. 3 position.

The Mercer tennis teams will return to action on Friday, hosting Belmont in a pair of A-Sun matches. The men will take on the Bruins in a 2 pm match, while first serve for the women's match is set for 10 am.  

Men's Match:

STETSON 5, MERCER 2

Women's Match

STETSON 7, MERCER