Coming off a thrilling victory over eighth-ranked Carnegie Mellon University on Friday, the Denison men's tennis team suffered a 5-4 setback to No. 25 Mary Washington on Saturday afternoon in Pittsburgh, Pa.

The Big Red held a 2-1 advantage following the completion of doubles competition thanks to wins at the first and third flights.  Juniors Matt McErlean and Tyler Cempre posted a convincing 8-1 victory over Kaz Murata and Sam Wichlin at No. 1, while the freshman tandem of Jay Fovel and Juan Guerra edged Will Apperson and Alex Blakhin 9-8 (8-5) in third doubles.

Despite the one-point deficit, the Eagles rattled off four of six singles matches to snatch the victory.  Senior Evan Verbofsky and junior Tom Cawood logged the two singles wins for Denison.  Verbofsky won in straight-sets (6-4, 6-3) over Apperson at No. 3 singles, while Cawood took the fourth flight with a 6-4, 6-4 victory over Blakhin.

Denison (5-4) returns to North Coast Athletic Conference action on Tuesday (March 29) when they travel to Springfield, Ohio to take on the Wittenberg Tigers.  Match time is scheduled for 4 p.m.