In another early season test against a nationally-ranked foe, the University of Rochester men's tennis team was able to hang tough, but ultimately dropped a 5-2 decision to Hamilton College on Saturday morning at the Goergen Athletic Center.
 
Hamilton, ranked #28 in the latest Division III poll, competed in its season-opener on Saturday, moving to 1-0, while the Yellowjackets fall to 3-4 overall on the season.
 
URochester was able to take two singles matches, with Tony Xu and Aiden Swartz posting wins, while two other singles contests went to three sets, showing that the Yellowjackets were within arms reach of the overall match win.
 
Hamilton started strong with three doubles wins, earning the early 1-0 lead. The Continentals had a nationally-ranked doubles team at number one and a regionally-ranked pair at third doubles.
 
At one, #15 Vilem Aadamsoo and Lleyton Mendieta won 6-2 against Ethan Samora and Rahul Ravi for the opening win. Hamilton's Anson Anderson and Tarun Korwar followed with a 6-3 victory versus Swartz and Josh Chu before the #9 regional team of Alexei Katelevsky and Antonio Chavez made it a sweep with a 7-5 triumph against Surya Rajamani and Liam Rieger.
 
Hamilton started singles play with a win from Mendieta at number two, as he topped Kavin Shukla in straight sets, winning 7-5, 7-5.
 
URochester got on the scoreboard next, as Xu won over Anderson 6-3, 7-5 at the number four position.
 
Afterwards, the Continentals went up 3-1 in the team scoring after Korwar, the #13 ranked player in Division III, defeated Andy Liu at number one by a 7-5, 6-3 score.
 
A quick win from Swartz at five made it a one-point match overall, as the Yellowjacket first-year player won 6-1, 6-2 against Charlie Sternberg.
 
With two matches left on court, the Yellowjackets looked to complete the comeback, but unfortunately for the hosts, both matches went to three sets, but ended in favor of the Continentals.
 
At number three, Rahul Ravi started with a 6-4 win in the opening set against Aadamsoo, while Chu earned a 7-6 (7-4) opening set win at six versus Ignatio Tran.
 
The second sets saw Aadamsoo win 6-3 against Ravi and Tran posting the same score in his match against Chu, leveling each at one set apiece.
 
In the deciding set at number three, the pair needed a tiebreak to get to a winner, with Aadamsoo winning 7-6 (7-1) to clinch the overall match.
 
Rather than playing a full third set with the match decided, the last match on court just played a race to ten points, with Tran winning over Chu 10-6 in the third, moving the final score to 5-2 in favor of Hamilton.
 
The Yellowjackets next match will be on Sunday, March 8 as the team opens its Spring Break trip to Hilton Head, South Carolina. That day will feature two matches, coming against Lake Forest College and Randolph College.