The 27th-ranked Denison Big Red dropped a heart-breaking 5-4 decision to 17th-ranked Chicago in a clash of nationally ranked teams on Friday evening from the Mitchell Center in Granville, Ohio.

Denison jumped out to an early 2-1 lead following doubles competition. The No. 1 doubles team of Jared Connolly (Oak Park, Ill./Oak Park-River Forest) and Tim Martin (Oak Park, Ill./Oak Park-River Forest) defeated Troy Brinker and Jan Stefanski 9-7, while the third doubles team of first-years Juan Guerra (Midland, Mich./H.H. Dow) and Jay Fovel (Cincinnati, Ohio/St. Xavier) edged Neil Karandikar and Kunal Pawa 8-6.

The two singles victories came at the fourth and fifth flights.  Tom Cawood (East Lansing, Mich./East Lansing) defeated Alex Golovin in straight sets (6-4, 6-4), while Andrew Marczak (Wexford, Pa./North Allegheny) cruised past Harrison Abrams 6-3, 6-1.

DU falls to 1-1, while Chicago improves to 4-2.  The Big Red return to action on March 14 when they take on Rhodes College in Hilton Head, S.C.