ALTAMONTE SPRINGS, FL – For the second straight day, the University of Rochester men's tennis team took on a top-25 ranked opponent, falling to #24 Carnegie Mellon University 4-0 in the consolation semifinals of the UAA Championship at Sanlando Park on Saturday afternoon.
 
The loss drops Rochester to 9-10 on the season and into the seventh place match at the conference championships, while Carnegie Mellon improves to 10-9 and will play for fifth place in the UAA on Sunday morning.
 
CMU opened with wins at first and second doubles to secure the team doubles point. Takeshi Koey and Akshay Joshi, the Tartans' #2 doubles pair, started things off with a 6-2 win over Alan Wang and Surya Rajamani. At one, the regionally-ranked combo of Raghav Jangbahadur and Brendan Hendrata clinched the doubles point with a 6-4 triumph over Krish Vennam and Ahaan Malhotra.
 
In the third doubles match, CMU's Alex Feies and Daniel Kong were a game away from taking that match as well, leading Kavin Shukla and Liam Rieger 5-3, when the doubles point was officially earned.
 
Rochester saw a bit more success in singles play, with Ethan Samora and Shukla both earning set wins in matches that did not get finished.
 
Samora won the opening set 6-4 against Koey at number five, but trailed in set two 4-2. For Shukla, he won 7-6 (10-8) in his first set against Kong at fourth singles, and was down 3-0 in the second when the overall match was clinched by the Tartans.
 
Carnegie Mellon's Braden Chavez made it 2-0 on the scoreboard with a 6-1, 6-0 win over Joseph Xia at six before Hendrata added to CMU's total with a 6-2, 6-4 win over Liu in the three spot.
 
At one, Feies, the #6 player in Division III in singles, closed out the match with a 6-3, 6-2 win over Vennam, making the score 4-0 Tartans.
 
In Sunday's UAA finales, Rochester takes on #33 Brandeis in the seventh place match, while CMU battles #32 Washington U. for fifth.