Westerville, Ohio – The Transylvania men's tennis team went toe-to-toe with the vaunted Otterbein University Cardinals on Sunday afternoon but the Cardinals squeezed out a 5-4 win at the Otterbein Tennis Courts.

The Pioneers continued an all-Ohio weekend road trip on Sunday as they took aim at the one-loss Cardinals, who carried a record of 7-1 into the day. Transylvania went 3-3 against the Cardinals in singles play but Otterbein's 2-1 record in doubles proved to be the difference in Sunday's match.

Arjun Gupta and Hugo Koukhna delivered a convincing win at No. 1 doubles, winning 8-2 over the No. 1 duo of Brandon Wall and Jared Deel. Nick McNamee and Noah McNamee battled Connor Radune and Tyler Wharton to the brink but the Otterbein duo pulled out a clutch 8-6 victory at No. 2 doubles. The No. 3 doubles win went to Otterbein as Derek Kreiger and Tom Ohler won 8-2 over Brandon Stofleth and Hunter Gregg.

Singles play featured more tightly-waged battles across the board. Gupta and Wall grappled tightly before Gupta won 7-5, 6-2 in No. 1 singles. Kouhkna and Radune delivered more of the same as Koukhna won 6-2, 5-7, 1-0 in a critical three-setter.

Noah McNamee produced the final win of the day for the Pioneers at No. 4 singles with a 7-5, 6-2 win against Ohler. The Cardinals won No. 3, 5, and 6 singles matches in straight sets to come away with a gritty win.

The Pioneers will now move into Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference play as their schedule next carries them to a home match on Saturday, March 30 against the Manchester University Spartans at 11:00 a.m.

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