Box Score HOUGHTON, N.Y. -- April 7, 2018... That was the last time Houghton men's tennis had lost an Empire 8 regular season match. That streak --  which spanned almost eight seasons and had reached 44-straight matches after last week's win over Alfred -- came to an end Saturday at the hands of Nazareth University, who beat the Highlanders 6-3 at the Kerr-Pegula Field House.

Houghton won in second doubles, 8-3, with Samuel Garay and Preston Tobolski teaming for the victory. Tobolski and Garay were the only Highlanders to win their singles matches, in third and fourth positions, respectively. Nolan Zach and Graham Cook played strong in first and second singles, but were unable to claim the wins, and Jason Murphy put up a valiant effort in fifth singles. Both Cook and Murphy pushed their opponents to third sets.

"We knew all season that Nazareth was going to be a huge test for us. I think we played pretty well as a team but just failed to convert on a few big moments. There are some things we can develop this week as we look forward to Oswego and St. John Fisher next week," said Head Coach Jordan Crouch. "We had lots of positives despite the negative scores. I'm especially proud of Sam and Preston today. They worked their butts off and were dominant all day long. Nolan battled at first singles, and I'm very happy with his effort. Graham and Jason had a couple bad breaks between them and unfortunately lost in three long sets. We are excited to get back to work on Monday. Let's go Highlanders!"

Houghton travels to face first-year affiliate E8 member Oswego for a conference match on Friday, April 11 at 4 p.m.