STATESBORO, Ga. -  Appalachian State University men's tennis (13-6) couldn't have ended the regular season in better fashion than a thrilling 4-3 win over archrival Georgia Southern (15-6) Saturday evening at the Wallis Tennis Center.

The Mountaineers fell in doubles play that gave the Eagles the 1-0 lead, but won four singles matches to take home the victory.

“I couldn't more proud of the guys today”, said head coach Bob Lake. “We battled with resiliency and dug deep when we needed to. This was a statement win for us after dropping two matches last week, and this gives us momentum going into the conference tournament next week.”

With the match tied at 3-all and Ze Moya leading Jack Maddocks in the final match, Maddocks fought back from a 5-2 deficit to clinch the victory for the Mountaineers in a win that will certainly give the team confidence and momentum heading into the Sun Belt Tournament next weekend.

Appalachian gave Georgia Southern just its second loss in the past eight games, while the home loss for the Eagles was just their fourth setback in 10 matches at Wallis Tennis Center.

The hosts took both doubles matches en route to taking the 1-0 lead. Oliver Casey and Maddocks fell to JC Alcala and Eddie Landin as the No. 2 pairing. Zach Bost and Trey Morris would go on to suffer a 6-3 setback to Christian Kerrigan and Nico de Groof, 6-3.

App State stepped up in the singles portion of the match, with Morris tying the contest up with a straight-set, 6-2, 6-1 triumph over de Groof as the No. 6 in the lineup.

Casey bounced back to give the Mountaineers a 2-1 lead with his 6-2, 6-1 win over JC Alcala. Jan-Willem Kleynhans had a chance to push the lead to two points, but fell in three sets after coming back from a one-set deficit to force a deciding set, 6-1, 3-6, 6-3.

With the match tied, 2-2, Daniel Casablancas toppled Bost, 6-3, 7-6, to give the Eagles the lead, 3-2. But the final two matches belonged to the Apps, as Scott Webster valiantly stepped up and came back from a one-set deficit to defeat Rise Lanne, 5-7, 6-4, 6-2. Webster gave Lanne just his third loss of the season in 19 singles matches, which set up Maddocks' match-winning victory.

App State will await to hear its opponent for the Sun Belt Tournament taking place in New Orleans on Wednesday. Both the men's and women's tournament go by ITA rankings as opposed to the conventional head-to-head competition in conference play.