Bermuda tennis star Trey Mallory was relieved after helping University of North Carolina Wilmington men's team overcome nationally-ranked Old Dominion University 4-3 at the Folkes-Stevens Tennis Centre on Thursday.

Mallory outfoxed Canadian Maxime Mareschal-Hay 6-2, 1-6, 7-5, with the Bermudian showing great determination to settle the contest on a tie-break in the third set. The win saw the Seahawks taking their winning streak to seven.

“It felt great to clinch it for the team being down 5-3 in the third set made it more sweet to come with the win after,’’ Mallory told The Royal Gazette.

“In the last clinch match I had I lost, so I wanted this one bad because that loss hurt me.”

UNCW, who are ranked 71st in the NCAA Division I, found themselves 3-1 down after their No 4 player, Gabriel Hurtado lost to Codie van Schalkwyk.

Harold Huens reduced the deficit for the Seahawks with a straight sets win over Rolland De Ravel. Jordi Domenech drew UNCW level following his win in three sets.

It was left to the Bermudian to seal it for his team. While he took the first set, his opponent fought back to take the second.

Mareschal-Hay raced to a 5-3 lead in the and looked to close out the contest, only for the 21-year-old Mallory to launch a comeback, which saw him win four straight games.

Mallory and his UNCW team-mates are now in Lynchburg, Virginia, to play against Liberty University on Saturday.

With the tennis season drawing to a close, the Seahawks are preparing for the conference finals.

Last year, Mallory was part of the team that secured a third successive Colonial Athletic Association men’s title, and ninth overall, when they recorded a 4-1 win over Elon University.