Box Score HAVERFORD, Pa. – The TCNJ men's tennis team saw its undefeated start come to an end with a 5-4 setback in a tightly contested thriller at Haverford on Saturday.

Justin Wain and Matthew Michibata were both double-winners for the Lions (7-1), who had opened the spring with seven consecutive dual victories.

Saturday's match was decided by razor-thin margins. Each of the six singles courts either went to three sets (three) or featured at least one tiebreaker (three), and 8-5 was the most lopsided doubles margin. Haverford (5-3), which dropped out of the national rankings this week, won a tiebreaker at No. 3 doubles and claimed two of the three three-setters in singles to gain an edge in a tilt that could have gone either way.

Michibata and Wain staked the Lions to an early lead with an 8-6 defeat of George Jiang and Stefan Johnson on the top doubles court, but Haverford responded with an 8-5 win at No. 2 before Jackson Trevor and James McKenzie edged out Derek Jordan and Jacob Quijano by a 9-7 count in a tiebreak at number three.

McKenzie handed the Fords a 3-1 lead with a straight-set victory at No. 6 singles, but Wain won 7-6 (4), 6-4 against Jiang at No. 1 and Nick Matkiwsky delivered a hard-fought 7-5, 7-6 (3) victory against Abhinav Nallapareddy at No. 5 to knot the match at 3-all.

Haverford, however, managed to close out the win with a pair of three-set wins. Johnson pulled out a 6-4, 5-7, 6-4 nail-biter against Nikola Kilibarda at No. 4 to give the Fords the lead, and Danny Loder sealed it with a 6-2, 4-6, 6-2 defeat of Adrian Tsui on the third court.

Michibata came back to post a 4-6, 6-4, 6-2 victory opposite Andreas Wingert at No. 2.

The Lions open NJAC play against Rutgers-Camden on Saturday, part of a busy weekend that also features a match with No. 29 Swarthmore on Sunday.