Houghton College Men's Tennis dropped a tough contest 9-0 to Ithaca College Wednesday afternoon. A confident Ithaca team set the tone early and banked on experience to guide them to the victory.

To start the day in doubles, the first pairing of Jake Fisler and Micah Schilke got off to a hot start but eventually came up short 8-3. The second and third doubles pair each dropped their matches 8-0 to give Ithaca a commanding 3-0 lead.

In singles action, the Highlanders got their feet underneath them to make some competitive matches down the stretch. At 1st and 3rd singles, Jake Fisler and Micah Schilke found their form in the second set, but both came up short falling 6-1, 6-4 respectively. At 2nd singles Ethan Yung put up a strong fight in a 6-3, 6-3 defeat, and Ben McKay played some solid tennis at the 6th spot eventually falling 6-2, 6-2.

"Ithaca was the more confident team today. They played sharp early, had great energy, and really dictated play across the board." Said Head Coach Tonya McGraner. "It was a good loss. It taught us a lot about what we want to do on the court and showed us where some of our strengths and weaknesses lie. It's the best prep for the rest of the season to play against a team like Ithaca early on."

Houghton will rest up tomorrow before they take on another competitive non-conference opponent in D2 Daemen on Friday at 4pm.