The New York University men's tennis team opened play at the University Athletic Association (UAA) Championship with a 5-1 loss to Washington University in St. Louis on Friday, April 21, in Altamonte Springs, FL.

The Violets entered the three-day tournament as the #7 seed, while the Bears were the #2 seed.

The match began with doubles play, and NYU took one of the three matches. At #2 doubles, Alexander Lee and Boren Zheng defeated their opponents 8-7 (9-7). However, the Violets' #3 team of Joseph He and Andy Watterson were nipped by the same 8-7 score (7-4), while NYU's top tandem of Zachary Freier and Alex Yang also lost a close match (8-6).

The Bears were able to clinch the match by taking the first three singles tilts, so the other three were not played to completion (although Zheng was ahead in his #2 match).   

"The men played very well in doubles and we had a chance to come out ahead," said Head Coach Horace Choy. "There was a letdown in singles, and while we were competitive in some, we couldn't change the result." 

The Violets are back in action on Saturday when they face #6 seed Carnegie Mellon University at 12:30 pm.