BELLEVILLE, Ill. - Webster University opened its 2020 men's tennis season here Saturday with a tumultuous 5-4 win against Hendrix College at St. Clair Tennis Center.

Saturday's match, which was the first of the season for the Gorloks, marked the coaching debut of John Black as the Gorloks head coach. Black, who spent 18 years at Grand Valley State, was named Webster's coach in late January. 

In Saturday's match, the teams began by playing doubles as Hendrix's No. 3 team of Connor Brooks and Joseph Donaldson picking the first point of the match with an 8-0 win over Webster's No. 3 team of senior Nicolas Andrade (Quito, Ecuador/Francis Howell) and junior Courtland Butler (St. Louis, Mo./McKinley). 

The other two doubles matches went in favor of the Gorloks as junior Austin Nation (Oklahoma City, Okla./Purcell) and freshman Justin Weaver (Fenton, Mo./Rockwood Summit) won 8-4 at the No. 2 spot and the No. 1 team of senior Riley Muren (O'Fallon, Mo./UIS) and sophomore Tanner Haugen (Jefferson City, Mo./Jefferson City) earned a hard-fought 8-7 (7-5) win at the No. 1 spot over Hendrix's Eric Meyne and Micah Moore. 

Leading 2-1 in the match, Hendrix tied the match at 2 following a win at No. 6 singles by Brooks over Butler, 6-1, 6-1. Weaver would then give the Gorloks a 3-2 lead in the match with his third set tiebreaker win at the No. 3 spot over Donaldson, 7-5, 4-6, 10-5.

Nation, who played No. 2 singles, suffered a 6-1, 6-4 loss to Moore tie retie the match at 3-all, but Muren would give Webster a 4-3 lead in the match following his impressive 6-1, 6-2 win at the No. 1 singles spot.

The Warriors, who fell to 1-6 on the year with the loss, would retie the match following Parker Wouk's 6-0, 6-1 win over Andrade at the No. 4 spot. 

Wouk's win at the No. 4 spot set the stage for the match at the No. 5 spot between Haugen and Hendrix's Lance Smith. The match was a back-and-forth affair as Haugen won 6-4 in the first set and then would seal Webster's win with a 6-4 win in the set. 

The Gorloks will look to make two straight wins to open the 2020 season on Sunday, Feb. 23 as they host Knox College for an 8 a.m. match at the St. Clair Tennis Center in Belleville, Ill.