SCHENECTADY, N.Y. – The #69 Union College men's tennis team won two of the final three singles matches to pull out a huge 4-3 victory over #70 Hobart College in Liberty League action on Saturday at Sportime Capital Region.
 
Sophomores Jesus Sosa and Arhan Gupta combined for a doubles victory and two singles wins to lead the charge for Union (8-7, 2-2 Liberty League), which picked up its first victory over Hobart (7-6, 1-3 Liberty League) since April 23, 2006, a string of 16 straight defeats.
 
Union started the day strong by winning at first and third doubles to take the opening point. Junior Solen Bellemare and first-year Simon Philip got things going with a quick 6-1 win at the third flight over Jose Martinez Barelles and Tejus Ranadive, while Sosa and Gupta provided the decisive victory with a 6-3 win over Nick Fischer and Aidan Staunton at the top flight.
 
After the Statesmen won at fourth and fifth singles to take back the lead, Union finished off three straight three-setters to secure the victory. Sophomore Vivaan Gupta started the run with a comeback victory at sixth singles, dropping the first set 6-4 to Marco Olmos before coming back to post 6-2 and 6-3 sets in his favor. He had a pair of breaks to win the final three games of the second set to even the match, then recorded the only break of the third set to take a 4-2 lead on the way to the win.
 
Both Arhan Gupta and Sosa went to a third set after winning the opening frame of their singles matches, and both buckled down to help clinch the match for the Garnet Chargers. Gupta split a pair of 6-3 sets with Michael Georgelis to start their third-singles match, and twice responded to service breaks by breaking right back in the third set. On serve at 5-4, Gupta scored four straight points down love-30 to provide the decisive break and earn the victory.
 
Sosa had a much easier time in his third set against Staunton, responding from a second-set loss to cruise to a 6-1 win that provided the clinching fourth point for the home team. The final line from Sosa's victory was 7-5, 4-6, 6-1.
 
Union will look to carry that momentum into another key conference match tomorrow against Rochester Institute of Technology, with the Garnet Chargers and Tigers set to match up beginning at 10 a.m. at Sportime Capital Region.