Newark, NJ - The NJIT men's tennis season earned its first victory of the season, defeating visiting Fairleigh Dickinson 4-3 at the Naimoli Tennis Center on Saturday afternoon.

NJIT (1-3) swept through doubles to earn the first point of the afternoon, before winning three singles matches to clinch the victory over the Knights (2-4).

"It was a great day for our young team!," exclaimed Head Coach Ira Miller. "We started with some great momentum, winning three tight doubles matches."

In doubles play, the Highlanders received close wins from top pair Josh Smith/Tin Dizdarevic (7-5), their second pair Abdullah Fouad/George Svensson (6-4) and the squad's third pair Aidar Aidossov/Samuel Townes (7-6) to go ahead 1-0 in the match.

Singles play saw the Highlanders get wins at second, third and sixth positions from Dizdarevic, Smith and Aidossov, respectively.

"Tin and Josh put us ahead 3-1 early," added Miller. "Aidar was down three games in the third set and was cramping, but pulled it out in a tiebreaker to lead us to the great team victory!"

NJIT will look to make it two in a row next Saturday when it hosts Drexel at 11am back in the Naimoli Center in Newark.

FULL RESULTS
NJIT 4, Fairleigh Dickinson 3

Singles competition
1. PUKSE, Teodors (FDU) def. Abdullah Fouad (NJIT) 7-5, 6-7, 7-6
2. Tin Dizdarevic (NJIT) def. DHOUIB, Mehdi (FDU) 6-2, 4-6, 6-2
3. Josh Smith (NJIT) def. PIETSCH, Niclas (FDU) 6-2, 1-6, 6-4
4. SOLANS DIAZ, Ivan (FDU) def. George Svensson (NJIT) 6-0, 6-2
5. BUDINSZKY, Moric (FDU) def. Samuel Townes (NJIT) 6-3, 7-5
6. Aidar Aidossov (NJIT) def. AUTUCH, Maciej (FDU) 6-2, 4-6, 7-6 (7-2)
Doubles competition
1. Tin Dizdarevic/Josh Smith (NJIT) def. DHOUIB, Mehdi/PIETSCH, Niclas (FDU) 7-5
2. Abdullah Fouad/George Svensson (NJIT) def. PUKSE, Teodors/GUDINS, Andris (FDU) 6-4
3. Samuel Townes/Aidar Aidossov (NJIT) def. BUDINSZKY, Moric/SOLANS DIAZ, Ivan (FDU) 7-6
Match Notes:
Order of finish: Doubles (2,1,3); Singles (4,2,3,5,1,6)