The Denison men's tennis team dropped their first match of the 2010 season to 29th-ranked Bates College, 5-4, on Friday from the Mitchell Center in Granville, Ohio.

The Big Red held a 2-1 advantage following doubles competition.  The first flight duo of junior Nate Hobrath (Strongsville, Ohio/Walsh Jesuit) and sophomore Matt McErlean (Hudson, Ohio/Hudson) and the No. 3 doubles team of sophomore Tom Cawood (East Lansing, Mich./East Lansing) and senior Adam Seeley (West Hartford, Conn./William H. Hall) each picked up 8-5 victories.  Hobrath and McErlean improved to 6-0 on the year, while Cawood and Seeley upped their doubles record to 3-0.  At second doubles, Jared Connolly (Oak Park, Ill./Oak Park and River Forest) and Tim Martin (Oak Park, Ill./Oak Park and River Forest) dropped a tightly contested match, 9-8 (7-5).

Trailing by one heading into singles play, the Bobcats won four of six singles matches to edge Denison.  Picking up victories for the Big Red were McErlean and Connolly.  The Hudson, Ohio native improved to 11-1 overall, 8-0 in dual matches and 7-0 at second singles following a 7-5, 6-2 decision over Michael Reiss. Connolly closed out the match with a three-set thriller.  The junior won the opening set 6-2 and dropped the middle game 4-6.  After falling into an early 2-0 hole in the super tiebreaker, Connolly rallied to tie the match on several occasions before securing the 10-7 win.

Denison falls to 7-1 on the year, while Bates improves to 5-1.  The Big Red returns to action on Saturday (March 27) when they travel to Earlham College for a North Coast Athletic Conference clash.  Match time is scheduled for 1 p.m.