The Houghton Men's Tennis Team dropped a heartbreaking 5-4 match against SUNY Oneonta Saturday afternoon. The match was a rollercoaster ride for the Highlander's who raced out to an incredible 3-0 sweep in doubles before dropping 5 of the 6 singles contests. 

In doubles, Houghton would come out on top in three intense doubles contests. Levi Webb and Jaimie Staerkle would get things started at the first flight finding a late break in a high powered serving match winning 8-5. Following right behind them, Nolan Zach and Matt Cicero would grab an identical 8-5 score line at the third position. Finally, the second pairing of Micah Schilke and Marcelo Garcia would battled of several break points in the final game to complete the doubles sweep 8-6. 

In singles, however, the Red Dragons proved to be too strong across the board. The lone win would come from Matt Cicero at sixth singles taking it 6-1, 6-3. The Highlander's would search desperately for just one more match to clinch the contest, but could not get over the hump. Micah Schilke and Marcelo Garcia played excellent matches at second and fourth singles respectively, but fell just shy with identical scores of 7-5, 6-4. Nolan Zach would be the other close match of the afternoon just falling shy with a 6-1, 7-6 (8-6) defeat at the third spot. 

"It is an extremely disappointing defeat today, not because we played poorly, but because we played so well and came up just short," Coach Zach Shilvock said post match. "I think these contests hurt the most because our group showed a tremendous amount of grit. Unfortunately, we played some of our tightest tennis is the biggest moments and that proved to be the difference. That being said, I am super pleased with our doubles performance and we are making strides towards playing our best tennis heading into conference play next week. I am excited to get back to it Monday!" 

The Highlander's, 3-5 overall, will get right back to it with three matches next week starting with RIT at home on Tuesday.