PHILADELPHIA – The Morgan State men's tennis team lost a hard-fought battle against Drexel by a score of 4-3 win on Sunday afternoon at the Armory on Drexel Homecoming Weekend.
 
The doubles point proved to be the difference as Drexel improved to 4-0 overall on the year and 14-1 all-time against Morgan State. The Bears dropped to 1-5 for the season.
 
"It was a great match today," said MSU coach Matt Townes. "Most of the courts could have gone either way. We competed hard, but came up just short."
 
"Losing the doubles point really hurt us, and we must play better from the beginning," added Townes. "We have some tough matches coming up and I'm excited to see if we will learn and get better from losses like this."
 
Drexel got important doubles wins from its two top pairs. Xabier Saavedra and Balaji Lakshmanan teamed up to take down Sagar Sathyanarayanan and Treajh Ferguson at No. 1, 6-2, to improve to 4-0 this season in dual play. Kashyap Ashok and Sinan Orhon would play a tighter match but they too came out on top, beating Evan Ward and Lucas Krusinski at No. 2, 6-4.
 
In singles play, Saavedra earned the widest margin of victory on the day, downing Ferguson, 6-1, 6-4. At Nos. 2 and 3, Andrew Sinai and Lakshmanan would each go to three sets. It was Lakshmanan, however, who would come out on top, defeating Ward after dropping the second set, 7-6 (2), 4-6, 6-3. Sinai couldn't hang onto the momentum after winning the first set, falling to Jeremy Field 3-6, 7-5, 6-3.
 
The back half of singles featured perhaps the tightest matches of the day, and the Dragons would need to win one to take the dual. Orhon battled his way back after getting blanked in the first set to win the second in a tiebreak, but Arjun Ramakrishnan took a close third set to win, 6-0, 6-7 (3), 11-9. Ashok also found himself on the down side of a marathon match. After taking the first set, he could not hang on, falling to Krusinski, 6-7 (5), 6-3, 10-8.
 
It would ultimately be Hamza Laalej who would seal the match win for the Dragons. He took care of business at No. 4, earning the straight set win over the Bears' Felix Andre, 7-5, 6-2.
  
The Bears return to the court on Friday, Feb. 12 when they face James Madison for a match at 6 p.m. in Baltimore.
 
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Drexel 4, Morgan State 3
 
Singles
Xabier Saavedra (DU) DEF Treajh Ferguson (MSU), 6-1, 6-4
Jeremy Field (MSU) DEF Andrew Sinai (DU), 3-6, 7-5, 6-3
Balaji Lakshmanan (DU) DEF Evan Ward (MSU), 7-6 (2), 4-6, 6-3
Hamza Laalej (DU) DEF Felix Andre (MSU), 7-5, 6-2
Arjun Ramakrishnan (MSU) DEF Sinan Orhon (DU), 6-0, 6-7 (3), 11-9
Lucas Krusinski (MSU) DEF Kashyap Ashok (DU), 6-7 (5), 6-3, 10-8
 
Doubles
Saavedra & Lakshmanan (DU) DEF Sathyanarayanan & Ferguson (MSU), 6-2
Ashok & Orhon (DU) DEF Ward & Krusinski (MSU), 6-4
Ramakrishnan & Field (MSU) DEF Laalej & Sinai (DU), 6-4