REDLANDS, Calif. – The University of Redlands Men's Tennis team nearly pulled off an upset over No. 3 Tufts University Saturday morning inside the Verdieck Tennis Center falling 4-3.

The Bulldogs put together a strong start against the Jumbos taking one of three doubles matches and nearly taking the early point.  Vitomir Petcov (Portland, OR) and Jack Fanshawe (Brisbane, Australia) paired up together at No. 1 getting broken late as they would fall 6-3.  Redlands would respond with the equalizer soon after as Dominic Anderson (Brisbane, Australia) and Gustavo Marcanth (Redondo Beach, CA) would take their match at No. 3 6-4 putting the pressure on the final match.  This would come at No. 2 from MJ Abarca (San Diego, CA) and Cooper Whittington (Lake Oswego, OR) who would get edged 7-5 giving Tufts the early advantage. 

In singles the Maroon and Grey took three of six matches with two of them going the distance.  Anderson would roll 6-2, 6-2 at the top-spot putting UR on the scoreboard and Josh Davydov (Bellevue, WA) would come up big at No. 5 with a 7-6 (4), 6-3 decision.  Tufts would rebound with wins at No. 3 as Petcov would fall 6-2, 6-1 and No. 4 as Abarca would drop 6-2, 6-2.  This would move the score to 3-2 but UR continued to fight with Jack Hinkle (Bountiful, Utah) pulling out a three-set win at No. 6 coming from a set down 2-6, 6-2, 6-2 to level the match.

The decisive point came at No. 2 from Marcanth who would also go three-sets.  He dropped the opening frame 6-4 but would rally back to take the second 6-2.  He would then get an early break in the third but couldn't hold on as he would eventually fall 6-3 allowing Tufts to escape with the win.       
     
Redlands returns to the courts on Monday, March 17 when they host Colorado College in a regional match-up beginning at 3:00pm inside the Verdieck Tennis Center.