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ALFRED, NY – The Alfred University men's tennis team fell to Elmira College in Empire 8 action, 4-5 Saturday afternoon at the William T. Brown Tennis Courts.
 
The Saxons (4-12, 1-3 Empire 8) got out to an early 2-1 lead after doubles with seniors Connor Doud (Ballston Spa, NY/Ballston Spa) and Matt Baloga (Goshen, NY/Goshen) claiming the 8-6, come-from-behind win at No. 1 and senior Kevin Volz (Olean, NY/Olean) and junior Patrick Brown (Olean, NY/Olean) earning the 9-7 win at No. 2. Volz and Brown were also down at one point, halfway through the match.
 
"This is a team that we fell to 8-1 in February and we knew that we had to have a big start at doubles to take the early lead," co-captain Doud said after his singles victory. "We didn't have a full lineup then and we know that everyone is playing a lot better now so we knew doubles wins were going to be key."
 
Sophomore Mike Wisniewski (Buffalo, NY/Williamsville East) and freshman Kyle Kemper (Oswego, NY/Oswego) fell in a close, near comeback at No. 3 doubles. "Third doubles played great today. They came back from three match points down into a tiebreaker but just lost," Doud said.
 
Elmira battled back in singles action, taking a 4-3 lead after No. 1, No. 3, No. 6 and No. 4 singles.
 
Doud picked up the win at No. 1 singles in two sets.
 
With No. 4 and No. 5 singles still going, Volz finished his opponent at No. 4 to tie things up at 4-4. The battle of gold versus gold came down to the final singles match at No. 5, featuring Brown.
 
Brown forced a third set but fell short in the tiebreaker.
 
The Saxons will next host the Golden Flyers of Nazareth College on Friday, April 22 at 4:00 pm in their Saxon for Saxon game, during Empire 8 action.