NEWPORT NEWS, Va. - The UC Santa Cruz men's tennis team started strong but ultimately came up short in a tightly contested 4-2 defeat to Mary Washington on Friday in the Coast-to-Coast Athletic Conference (C2C) semifinals.

How It Happened
The Banana Slugs came out firing in doubles, sweeping all three matches to secure the opening point. Andrew Tjoa and Benjamin Wang were sharp at No. 1 doubles, dispatching their opponents 6-2. Adam Hidas and Praneet Varade followed suit at the No. 3 spot with a dominant 6-1 victory. The team of Mayur Nookala and Radin Sadeghi closed out the doubles sweep with a 5-3 win at No. 2.

Despite the early lead, the singles matches shifted momentum in Mary Washington's favor. Adam Hidas was the lone singles victor for the Slugs, gutting out a 6-2, 1-6, 6-2 win at the No. 5 position. Close matches unfolded on the top courts, but UC Santa Cruz couldn't pull through in the crucial moments.

Top-seeded Andrew Tjoa battled into a third set at No. 1 singles but ultimately fell 7-5, 2-6, 3-6. Radin Sadeghi pushed his match at No. 2 to a deciding third set as well but came up just short, dropping it 2-6, 6-0, 5-7. Praneet Varade was defeated in straight sets at No. 3, and Arjun Tandon fell 3-6, 3-6 at No. 6.
With the match clinched at 4-2, the No. 4 singles match involving Mayur Nookala was left unfinished in the fourth set.