ITHACA, N.Y. –  The fifth-seeded Union College men's tennis team dropped a 5-0 match to fourth-seeded and ITA #33 Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in the first round of the Liberty League Tournament on Friday afternoon at Cornell University's Reis Tennis Center.
 
With the win, Rensselaer (11-6) advances to the Liberty League Tournament semifinals, where the team will face top-seeded Skidmore College tomorrow beginning at 2:15 p.m.
 
Union (7-9) was competitive in two of the three doubles matches, but the Engineers used a pair of late runs to help sweep the three points and take control early.
 
Junior Bailey McAtee and sophomore Austin Gregory led 5-4 against Bryce Burnham and Max Safanov at third doubles, before the RPI tandem rattled off four straight games to take an 8-5 win. The same fate befell junior Dimitris Binopoulos and sophomore Ben Jacobs at the top flight, as they were tied at four with ITA #12 Aiden Drover-Mattinen and Andy Zhu before dropping the final four games in an 8-4 defeat.
 
Drover-Mattinen and Abraham Yohannes, both nationally ranked in singles play, earned quick singles victories to complete the sweep for RPI.
 
Sophomore Ian Schunk was one game away from forcing a third set in his fifth-singles match against Jonathan McMillan when the final point was secured.
 
The loss marks the end of a successful season for Union, which saw the team post the second-most wins in a season in program history.