Behind a 2-1 advantage in doubles play, the Denison men's tennis team edged out a 5-4 decision over Allegheny College on Saturday at the Westwood Racquet Club in Erie, Pa.

The Big Red posted a pair of 8-4 decisions at the second and third doubles flights to open the match.  The No. 2 doubles tandem of Andrew Marczak and Casey Cempre doubled up Daniel Conroy and Charlie Murphy, while Jackson O'Gorman-Bean and Jeffrey LoDuca took down Sam Stephenson and Alexander Hurtuk at third doubles.

At the top doubles flight, Grant Veltman and Juan Guerra battled the region's 10th-ranked team of Patrick Cole and Tyler Triolo.  The DU duo battled the Allegheny team tough, but suffered an 8-6 setback.

The Gators won three of the first five singles flights to tie the match at 4-4 with one flight to play.  At No. 6 singles, O'Gorman-Bean faced off against Conroy.  Conroy edged out a 7-5 decision in the opening set to gain the early advantage.  In the second set, the two split the first 12 points to force a tiebreaker.  After a 20-point battle, O'Gorman-Bean came away with an 11-9 win to push the flight to a third set.  In the third-and-final set, O'Gorman-Bean doubled up Conroy, 6-3, to win the match for the Big Red.

DU's other singles victories came via straight-sets at the third and fourth flights.  Marczak knocked off Hurtuk 6-3, 6-4, while Cempre was a 6-2, 6-4 winner over Thomas Manning.  At No. 1 singles, Guerra was involved in a first-set war with Cole.  Despite a valiant effort from Guerra, the 18th-ranked player in the region eked out a 16-14 win.  Cole finished off the top-flight win with a 6-0 decision in the second set.

With the win, Denison improves to 1-1, while Allegheny falls to 3-2 on the year.  The Big Red returns to action next weekend at Mary Washington.  DU will take on N.C. Wesleyan (9 a.m.) and the host Eagles (3 p.m.) on Saturday before closing out the weekend with a 9 a.m. match against Vassar on Sunday.