OCEANSIDE, N.Y. - The Saint Michael's College men's tennis team lost to Adelphi University, 5-2, on Friday afternoon, coming within two close singles losses of nabbing a victory during Northeast-10 Conference play in the Point Set Indoor Racquet Club.

RECORDS

• Saint Michael's (7-3, 0-2 NE10), Adelphi (1-3, 1-0 NE10)

SAINT MICHAEL'S LEADERS

• First-year Jason Boucher (Bedford, N.H./Bedford), 2 wins
• First-year Connor Scott (Bellevue, Wash./Newport), 1 win
• First-year Seb Tonini (Derry, N.H./Pinkerton Academy), 1 win
• First-year Josh Weiss (Pittsford, N.Y./Pittsford Mendon), 1 win

MATCH FACTS

• While Adelphi, which qualified for three of the last six NCAA Tournaments, had been winless this season, two of its three setbacks came against teams ranked among the top three in the latest Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) East Region poll.
• Saint Michael's entered the day having lost 87 of a possible 90 decisions in 10 all-time matches with the Panthers since first playing on April 18, 2010. The Purple Knights matched the three wins, nabbing more than one in a match for the first time, with Boucher claiming two himself. He joined former head coach Ryan Magee '11 (April 3, 2011) as the only Purple and Gold players to take a singles match from Adelphi, and matched Nick Bosco '14 as the lone Purple Knights with multiple career wins against the Panthers.
• The Purple Knights won 68 games during the match, equaling their total from the past two meetings.
• With a 17-5 mark between singles and doubles this school year, Boucher is tied for eighth in program history in total victories.

THE ACTION

• Adelphi opened doubles action by winning in the No. 3 spot for its 29th doubles win in 31 tries against the Purple Knights. Saint Michael's responded with victories in the final two matches to not only take the doubles point and lead 1-0 heading into singles, but match its total number of doubles wins ever against the Panthers.
• Tonini and Weiss claimed a 6-3 triumph at No. 2, the Purple Knights' first in either singles or doubles versus Adelphi since Bosco and Chris Moskal '13 sided for a 9-7 victory from the same spot on March 23, 2013, snapping a string of 60 consecutive singles and doubles wins by Adelphi in the all-time series. Tonini and Weiss registered the largest doubles victory Saint Michael's has ever had in the series.
• In the deciding match, Boucher and Scott picked up a 7-5 win at No. 1, improving to 8-3 on the season.
• The Panthers began singles action with a win from the No. 3 spot to tie the match, but Boucher's 6-4, 6-2 victory at No. 4 put the visitors up 2-1 and allowed him to improve to 8-2 this season. The win also broke Adelphi's run of 53 straight singles triumphs in the series since Magee's 6-3, 3-6, 6-4 win. The Panthers had lost only seven singles sets ever against the Purple Knights prior to Friday.
• Weiss lost a close opening set in a 7-5, 6-2 defeat at No. 2 before Scott twice fell in tiebreakers during a 7-6 (7-3), 7-6 (7-4) setback from the first spot that put Adelphi in front by a 3-2 count.
• While looking to tie the match, sophomore Ivan Llona (Shelburne, Vt./Champlain Valley Union) led his foe at No. 6, 4-3, during the opening set before losing the clinching decision, 6-4, 6-2.
• Tonini was the last Purple Knight to finish, taking his opening set in the fifth spot before dropping his second in a tiebreaker, and ultimately losing the contest during a third-set super tiebreaker, 3-6, 7-6 (7-4), 10-2.

NEXT SAINT MICHAEL'S MATCH

• March 15 at Middlebury College, 5:30 p.m.
• Middlebury is third in the latest ITA Division III national poll.
• The Panthers advanced to at least the NCAA Division III Tournament national semifinals each of the past six years, winning the 2018 championship.