The Chestnut Hill College Men's Tennis team faced their first real test of their conference schedule Tuesday afternoon taking on two-time defending champion Jefferson University at the CHC Tennis Courts.  The Griffins fought valiantly but were narrowly defeated by the Rams 4-3.

The 4-3 score marked the closest contest between the two squads in the last eight games, dating back to March 2022.

Chestnut Hill falls to 5-2 overall and 1-1 in Central Atlantic Collegiate conference games   Jefferson improves to 6-4 overall and 1-0 in league play.

The Griffins opened the match winning two of three three doubles contests to earn the doubles point and a 1-0 lead.  After losing at #3 doubles, the Griffins duo of Joao Sousa and Tiago Lima recorded a 6-0 win over Mario Antonio and Johary Rabetrano followed by Noah Cutting and Antonio Franquis taking the #1 doubles match 7-6 (7-4) over Hannibal Borg and E. Soto Ballester

Soto even the match at 1-1 with a 6-0, 6-2 win over Arnaud Vangenechten at #4 singles and Rabetrano put the Rams ahead 2-1, defeating Pedro Vicente at #6 singles 6-4, 6-3.

Sousa evened the match with a 6-4, 6-1 win over A. Mateos Melenchon at #5 singles.

Franquis and his opponent, Jules Thibault at #2 singles split their first two sets and Thibault took a commanding 4-1 lead in the third set when Franquis' legs started cramping.  Not to be deterred, Franquis worked the cramps out and came back to win the next five games to take the match 3-6, 6-3, 6-4, giving Chestnut Hill a 3-2 lead in the match.

The remaining two singles contests both went to three sets with the Rams squeezing out wins at both #1 (Cutting) and #3 singles (Lima) to take the match.

The men's tennis team returns to action on Friday, March 2, 2024 when they host Millersville University. First serve is set for 2:00 P.M.