POUGHKEEPSIE, NY (February 20, 2016) – The Vassar College men's tennis team played competitively, but ultimately fell in a close match to No. 24 Skidmore College on Saturday afternoon.

Daniel Cooper (Piedmont, CA/Piedmont), Juan Felipe Laso (Quito, Ecuador, Colegio American De Quito) and Nick Lee (Larchmont, NY/Mamaroneck) all picked up singles victories, as Vassar (3-3) showed fight through and through against Skidmore (2-0).

"Competing hard against the toughest opponents is something we've talked about," coach Alex Wong said. "I thought the guys did that today."

Every Brewer scored against the defending Liberty League champions, making the Thoroughbreds work for every point.

Vassar fell behind in three thrilling doubles matches. For No. 1 doubles, Cooper and Nick Zuczek (Westerly, RI/Saint Bernard) fell, 8-4, to Nick Tong and Kai Yuen Leung before Evan Udine (Delray Beach, FL/Boca Raton Community) and Alexander Luckmann (Berkeley, CA/Head-Royce School) were edged, 8-6, by Jonah Epstein and Kit Sanderson in the second match. Skidmore swept doubles when Lucas Pickering and Steven Koulouris downed Nick Litsky (St. Petersburg, FL/Shorecrest Prep. School) and Gray Thurstone (Louisville, KY/St. Francis School), 8-3.

"Even after losing some very close doubles matches, we went into the singles matches fighting even harder," Wong said. "I thought that showed a lot of character."

Playing from behind, Vassar entered singles determined to make a comeback. Skidmore took the first two singles matches to clinch the team win, but the Brewers didn't let that deter them from competing.

The Brewers picked up a win when Cooper knocked off Sanderson, 6-3, 6-3, for No 2 singles. The senior is now 6-2 in singles, having won his past three matches.

"(Cooper) played against a guy in Kit Sanderson, who has played number one for them and has been very successful, has been ranked in the region," Wong said. "I thought that as a senior captain, (Cooper) set the tone for what we wanted to do today."

Laso followed with a grind-it-out win over Tong in the tiebreaker. Tong took the first set, 6-4, before Laso came back to win 6-3 in the second and 10-8 in the super-tiebreaker for No. 4 singles.

For No. 1 singles, Litsky and Leung went head-to-head in perhaps the most intense match of the day. Listky fought to take the first set, 7-5, before Leung came back to force a tiebreaker with a 6-2 win. It was truly a fight to the finish, as Lueng edged Litsky in the tiebreaker, 14-12. Lee rounded the day with another win, taking the tiebreaker, 11-9.

"(The Thoroughbreds are) nationally ranked and have won the conference championships a few years in a row," Wong said. "For us to go out there and give it everything we've got and make it a close match, it gives us a lot of energy to work even harder moving forward."

The Vassar men's tennis team hits the road for eight matches, beginning with one against University of Rochester on Saturday, Feb. 27 at 1 p.m.