SCHENECTADY, N.Y. – The #59 Union College men's tennis team came up just short in its matchup against #55 Ithaca College on Saturday morning, falling by a 4-3 score in a Liberty League contest at the Union Tennis Courts.
 
Despite the loss, Union (9-9, 3-4 Liberty League) can still finish in a tie for fourth place with a win over St. Lawrence University and a loss by Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute to first-place Vassar College tomorrow.
 
Ithaca (10-6, 5-2 Liberty League) emerged victorious at the top-two doubles flights to start the day with a win. Junior Daniel Saxe and sophomore Vivaan Gupta broke up the sweep attempt with a hard-fought win at the third flight, defeating Ivan Kisic and Sam Lopez-Cardenas in a tiebreaker, 7-6 (7-1).
 
Union split the six singles matches, but could not get the elusive fourth win to pull off the comeback. First-year Simon Philip got the home team back to even temporarily with a 6-0, 6-3 fifth-singles win over Alex Massa, but the Bombers won close matches at fourth and third singles to take a 3-1 lead. Sophomore Jesus Sosa kept Union alive with a comeback win at second singles, defeating Kisic by a 1-6, 6-2, 6-3 score.
 
Ithaca clinched the win with a tough sixth-singles win for Lopez-Cardenas, outlasting Gupta by a 7-6 (7-2), 6-4 score. Junior Solen Bellemare provided the final point of the day in Union's favor at the top flight, taking down Gijs Fidler in a third-set superbreaker, 6-7 (3-7), 6-4, (10-6).
 
The Garnet Chargers finish the regular season tomorrow with a 10 a.m. Senior Day match against St. Lawrence University, with the chance to move into a tie for fourth place.