Raleigh, N.C. - The Meredith tennis team lost an epic battle in the USA South Championship game 5-4 with the Methodist Monarchs on Sunday. The Monarchs took two of three doubles while singles were split to give the Monarchs the decision.

In doubles, the Monarchs had victories at the #1 and #2 spots while the #3 team of Ashley Pearsall/Mollie Musgrave took the 8-3 win. #1 Puja Patel/Caroline Hunt fell 8-2 while #2 Mary Lawrence Newton/Betty Edwards dropped their match 8-2.

To start singles play, the Monarchs secured victories over #2 Hunt and #3 Newton to take the 4-1 advantage. The Avenging Angels then stormed back as convincing wins by #5 Edwards (6-1, 6-4), #6 Musgrave (6-1, 6-0) and #1 Patel (6-4, 6-2) tied the match at four all. That left Meredith's Pearsall on the court with Methodist's Dana Powell in the #4 singles match. Powell took the first set 6-4, but a back and forth battle took the second set to 6-all and forced the tiebreaker. Powell took the tie breaker 7-5 and it gave the Monarch's the match.

The Avenging Angels were represented by Patel, Pearsall and Edwards on the all-tournament team.

Meredith finishes with a 17-5 record and a regular season tri-championship.