Box Score WORCESTER, Mass. – Men's tennis captured the program's 17th-consecutive victory against Holy Cross, defeating the Crusaders, 5-2, on Saturday afternoon. Three Raiders notched undefeated records in the win which snapped a four-duel losing skid. 

"Our men desperately needed and deserved that win to open conference play today," head coach Bobby Pennington said. "I've never had a season where we lost so many close 4-3 or 5-2 matches. We had a long team meeting where we talked about the pride and tradition and all the great years of Colgate Tennis. The season could go in two directions and we chose to man up and forge ahead. We now have a much-deserved bye weekend."

A sweep of the doubles action saw Josh Israel/Aidan Lee take their second-straight victory in the first slot after Aidan Chung/John Fazli dominated court two, 6-1, for this sixth win of the season as a duo. The first-year pairing of Jerome Falcon/Parker McGowan completed the sweep with a 6-4 victory in third doubles. 

The Crusaders kicked off singles play with a win on court four, but Benito Vlassis answered with a 6-4, 6-3, flight one win to push the Raiders back out in front.   

Falcon ended the duel undefeated after a gutsy 3-6, 6-4, 10-4 win in the fifth slot that kept the momentum rolling for the Raiders. Holy Cross was not done, though, and extended the duel with a win on court six. 

But Israel slammed the door shut in singles two with a decisive 6-2, 4-6, 6-2 triumph that sealed Colgate's first Patriot League win of the year. 

UP NEXT
The Raiders will enjoy a bye week before getting back into the swing of things with a March 29 duel with Bucknell in Bison Country.