ORLANDO, Fla. — The Roger Williams University men's tennis team came up just short Tuesday afternoon, falling 4–3 to Piedmont at the USTA National Campus in a tightly contested match.

Piedmont opened the match by sweeping all three doubles contests to take an early 1–0 lead. Mark Backeberg and Leyton Dunn earned a 6–1 victory over Ryan Carroll (Holden, Mass.) and Bronson DeSisto (Las Vegas, Nev.) at No. 1 doubles to finish first. Caleb McElveen and Horacio Rodriguez followed with a 6–2 win against Nathan Belmore (Lakeville, Mass.) and Cooper Brown (Plano, Texas) at No. 2 doubles, while Rohan Kavali and Amir Latipov completed the sweep with a 6–2 victory over Iker Rodriguez Alcocer (Nualcalpan de Juarez, Mexico) and Steven Mathew (Bayport, N.Y.) at No. 3 doubles.

Roger Williams responded in singles play, claiming three points to keep the match close. DeSisto secured the Hawks' first point at No. 1 singles, rallying past Dunn in a three-set battle, 4–6, 6–3, 10–6. Om Seth (Lincoln, R.I.) added another point with a strong performance at No. 5 singles, defeating McElveen 6–0, 6–4, while Will Hurlbut (Marion, Mass.) earned a straight-set victory at No. 6 singles over Jack Maddox, 6–2, 6–2.

Piedmont ultimately clinched the match with three singles victories of its own. Backeberg defeated Carroll 6–4, 6–3 at No. 2 singles, Kavali topped Rodriguez-Alcocer 6–3, 6–2 at No. 3 singles, and Rodriguez secured the deciding point with a 6–1, 6–3 win over Camden Poitras (Londonderry, N.H.) at No. 4 singles.

Roger Williams (6-4, 1-0 CNE) will host Suffolk on Tuesday, Mar. 17 at 4:00 pm before taking on Nichols on Saturday, Mar. 21 at 12:00 pm to open their home slate this Spring.