ROCHESTER, N.Y. -- Houghton men's tennis started their slate of conference matches with a strong win 6-3 over St. John Fisher on Friday.

The Highlanders started the day with wins at first and second doubles, with the first team pair of Jake Fisler and Micah Schilke impressing in an 8-0 pro set win. The second doubles pairing of Ethan Yung and Levi Webb pulled out a big break hold combo at 5-4 to go up 7-4 before winning the match 8-4.
 
As the play shifted to singles, Ethan Yung gained a key second singles win (6-1, 6-0) early to stake the Highlanders to a 3-1 lead.
 
Schilke showed up with some giant serves in third singles, hitting multiple aces and rolling in his second set to win 6-4, 6-1.
 
With the match score at 4-2, the three remaining singles all moved to third sets. Ben McKay lost after a tough comeback in the second to bring the overall match score to 4-3 in the Highlanders' favor.

Fisler found his footing in his third set after a second-set tiebreaker loss to win 6-1, 6-7 (7-6), 6-3 and clinch the match for Houghton.

Micah Christensen tacked on an extra win at sixth singles, also besting his opponent in the first and third sets of the match.
 
"It was a great match today. Fisher is a good team, and it is definitely a challenge to face off with them first in conference play," said Head Coach Tonya McGraner. "We came out really strong and energetic. Midway through the match they caught us feeling a bit too confident and they had us on our heels. Their guys certainly didn't hand over the match. So credit to both teams; they made us earn that win and our guys had to regroup and focus to close it out. All in all it was a positive way to start conference season. We're looking forward to playing them again in a few weeks." 

Houghton returns to action at home Saturday when they take on Utica at 2 p.m.