St. Louis, Mo. – It was a long, hard-fought battle for the WashU men's tennis team on Friday, but the Bears came up just short in a 5-4 loss to NCAA DII opponent McKendree at Tao Tennis Center in non-conference play. 

The Bears move to 9-5 on the season and McKendree improves to 10-1. 

WashU jumped ahead 2-1 after doubles play, picking up big wins at No. 2 and 3 as Jeremy Ouyang/Scott Yamamoto pulled out an 8-6 win at the No. 2 position, while the duo of Jared Phillips/ Gaurav Singh won 8-5 at No. 3 doubles. 

With a 2-1 lead, the Bears turned to singles play, but the Bearcats would take advantage of tiebreakers throughout the evening, winning all four that occured in singles action. 

Li earned a three-set victory at No. 2 singles, fighting his way back from a tough tiebreaker loss in the second to record a 6-3 victory in the third and final set. 

The Bears also posted victories at No. 6 singles, following a straight-set decision of 7-5, 7-5 from James Shaheen. 

The match was tied at 4-4 and came down to the final court at No. 3 singles, but McKendree would pull out a 6-4 set victory in the third to win and seal the match. 

WashU will host Northwest Missouri State at 10:00 AM at Tao Tennis Center on Sunday. 

Results 

Singles competition
1. Leonardo Frederico (MCKMT) def. Abhi Ramireddy (WASHUM) 4-6, 6-4, 7-6 (3)                                   

 2. Daniel Li (WASHUM) def. Boriss Kamdem (MCKMT) 6-0, 6-7 (4), 6-3
3. Subash Paramasivan (MCKMT) def. Luke Smith (WASHUM) 4-6, 7-6 (7), 6-4
4. Julappagari Reddy (MCKMT) def. Gaurav Singh (WASHUM) 7-6 (4), 6-4
5. David Leon Mantilla (MCKMT) def. John Fakouri (WASHUM) 6-4, 6-2
6. James Shaheen (WASHUM) def. Vishnu Prasad (MCKMT) 7-5, 7-5 

Doubles competition
1. Leonardo Frederico/Boriss Kamdem (MCKMT) def. Daniel Li/Abhi Ramireddy (WASHUM) 8-7 (5) 

2. Jeremy Ouyang/Scott Yamamoto (WASHUM) def. Lorenzo del Biondo/David Leon Mantilla (MCKMT) 8-6 

3. Gaurav Singh/Jared Phillips (WASHUM) def. Subash Paramasivan/Vishnu Prasad (MCKMT) 8-5