Box Score SYRACUSE, N.Y. – Colgate men's tennis dropped a nailbiter on Friday night as the Niagara Purple Eagles escaped Drumlins Country Club with a 4-3 win on the road. The tightly contested battle marks the Raiders' third one-point loss of the Spring season. 

"I can't possibly imagine a more tortuous, heartbreaking season if I could try and draw it up," head coach Bobby Pennington said. "That's four matches that we have lost in equivalent to overtime. If a ball bounces our way here or there we're 8-3. Sometimes life and sports just aren't fair." 

The Raiders trailed early on in the duel with losses on doubles courts one and three that ceded the first point to the visitors. 

However, Niagara did not stay in the lead for long as Ben Graham evened the score when his opponent retired in third singles. 

Benito Vlassis faltered on court one (4-6, 5-7),  but the Raiders responded immediately when Aidan Lee pulled out wins with back-to-back tiebreaker sets in the fourth slot to knot the score at two. 

Needing to steal two out of the three remaining matches, Colgate faded behind after Tejas Gupta lost a three-set battle, 1-6, 6-2, 5-7.  

Fifth singles was claimed by the Raiders when first-year Jerome Falcon won 7-6, 7-5, but Josh Israel fell just short on court two, dropping Colgate to 3-8 on the season. 

UP NEXT 
Colgate heads south to play Southeastern on the road at 1 p.m. on Wednesday, March 13.