Box Score TROY, N.Y. – The TCNJ men's tennis nearly pulled off a weekend to remember in New York State, but the Lions' upset bid fell just short in a 5-4 thriller at No. 30 RPI on Sunday.

The Lions (8-2, 1-0) had already swept past Oneonta in their NJAC opener late Saturday night before taking on the highly touted Engineers. All three doubles matches went to tiebreakers, and TCNJ took two of them, but RPI had a little too much on the singles courts and managed to fend off the visitors' charge.

Saturday night's NJAC East Division lid-lifter was a runaway from the start. Jacob Quijano and Alberto Thomas won, 8-1, at No. 3 doubles, and Harrison Maitland-Carter and Brett Schuster were hot on their heels with an 8-2 victory at No. 1. Nick Matkiwsky and Akul Telluri promptly polished off the sweep with an 8-3 win at No. 2.

Singles was similarly lopsided. Derek Jordan conceded one game (6-1, 6-0) at No. 4, while Thomas (No. 3), Schuster (No. 5), and Telluri (No. 6) dropped two games apiece.

Maitland-Carter recorded a 6-1, 6-4 decision at No. 2, and Adrian Tsui sewed up the shutout with a 6-2, 6-4 triumph on the top court.

Sunday's slugfest was a barnburner. Maitland-Carter and Matthew Michibata took their tiebreaker, 7-2, Aiden Drover-Mattinen and Andy Zhu, who came in ranked 5^th in the Northeast Region doubles rankings.

Matkiwsky and Telluri pulled out a 7-5 breaker at No. 2, setting up the Lions for a surprise sweep of doubles play. But the Engineers managed to avert that fate, with their No. 3 team outlasting Quijano and Thomas, 8-6, in the third and final tiebreak.

That victory seemed to propel RPI, which won in straight sets on courts 2, 3, 5, and 6 to secure a hard-fought result.

TCNJ battled with three-set triumphs from Thomas (6-1, 5-7, 6-4) at No. 3 and Michibata, who took down Drover-Mattinen 4-6, 7-6 (5), 7-6 (5) in a pair of breakers at No. 1 for a hard-earned 50^th career singles victory. Drover-Mattinen is ranked No. 2 in the Northeast Region

The Lions return to action on Friday, when they resume NJAC play at Ramapo before heading to Hoboken to challenge nationally ranked Stevens on Saturday.