Boiling Springs, N.C. - On the heels of a solid showing at the three-day Army Challenge this past weekend, Gardner-Webb's men's tennis team will hit the road once again for its second dual match of the 2013 season, traveling to take on the Spartans of USC Upstate on Saturday, February 2.

GWU (0-1) will take on a Spartans team coming off a grueling weekend of competition in its own right, having played Oregon on Friday, Eastern Washington on Saturday, and Portland on Sunday in a Friday-Sunday tournament in Eugene, Oregon.

USC Upstate, which sports a veteran roster including five juniors, defeated Eastern Washington 4-3 on Saturday at the Oregon tournament before falling in a tough 3-4 match against Portland on day three. The host Ducks won 7-0 over the Spartans on Friday.

Upstate (2-2) opened its season with a 4-3 over Big South member Presbyterian, getting wins from Matthias Kidler (No. 1 singles), Viktor Selander (No. 4 singles), and Jamie Yates (No. 5 singles) in the January 20 Spartan victory.

Gardner-Webb has been productive in the bottom half of its singles rotation thus far, which includes the opening match at 18th ranked North Carolina as well as tournament play versus Army, Marist, and UNC Greensboro. Sophomore Brendan Dempsey (Dublin, Ireland) picked up a win at No. 6 singles in the 6-1 loss to the Tar Heels, along with another at No. 6 against Marist, and teamed with senior Roman Piftor (Tashkent, Uzbekistan) for doubles wins against UNC Greensboro and Army.

Piftor won his No. 2 singles match against Army, as well as against Marist, and won at No. 3 doubles  against both the Spartans and Black Knights. Sophomore Ernest Alberch (Torello, Spain) picked up a singles win against Army and a doubles win against Marist, teaming with sophomore Joao Poli (Londrina, Brazil) for the win at No. 2 doubles against the Red Foxes.

Poli also has a singles win and two more doubles wins under his belt, all from the Army Challenge. Two of his three doubles wins on the season have come alongside freshman Jonathan Walker (Elkin, N.C.) at No. 4 doubles.

Freshman Benjamin Kaszás (Budapest, Hungary) also has gotten off to a good start this season, winning a key match at No. 3 singles against Army on the first day of the Challenge. Senior Adam Knutsson-Sundblad (Gothenburg, Sweden) picked up a win against Marist at the Challenge, winning at No. 1 singles by a 7-5, 4-6, 6-4 margin.

The Runnin' Bulldogs will look to pick up its first win of the 2013 season this Saturday at USC Upstate. GWU's match against the Spartans is scheduled to start at 1:00 p.m. at the Upstate Tennis Complex in Spartanburg, S.C.