Box Score PITTSBURGH, Pa – Visiting Binghamton men's tennis (12-9) defeated Atlantic 10 member Duquesne (6-8) 4-3 Friday night at Alpha Tennis and Fitness. The win was BU's fifth in its last six matches and continues the Bearcats' best dual match season in eight years.

The Bearcats grabbed the doubles point with wins at the top two spots and that point was pivotal as the teams then split the six singles matches.

After Duquesne tied it 1-1 with the first completed singles match, freshman No. 2 Filipe Costa and sophomore No. 3 Ronin Lotlikar closed out their matches in straight sets, giving BU a 3-1 lead. It was Costa's team-leading 24^th win of the season (16-5 duals) and Lotlikar's 22^nd win.

Needing one more singles win to clinch the match, BU got it from freshman No. 6 Andre Ajed. Playing in just his sixth dual of his collegiate career but inserted with two lineup regulars unavailable, Ajed posted a 7-6 (5), 6-4 win. Ajed broke his opponent in the final service game to forge a 4-1 cushion.

"It was a really mature performance tonight," head coach Nick Zieziula said. "We had to juggle the lineup but everyone took care of business. Doubles was huge again ... Ronin and Will stepping in at No. 1 to get the win was clutch. But the story today was Andre (Ajed), rallying from a big first set deficit to take the tiebreak and then to close it out in the second to clinch it for us."

Binghamton (6-1 NEC) finishes its two-match swing through Western Pa. with an 11 a.m. match Saturday at unbeaten NEC contender St. Francis (10-5, 5-0 NEC). The winner likely earns the No. 1 seed for the upcoming NEC Championship next weekend in New Jersey.
 
Binghamton 4, Duquesne 3
DOUBLES
1. William Morais Binnie/Ronin Lotlikar (BU) def. Kaipo Marshall/Tamirian Teberikov (D), 6-4
2. Filipe Costa/Andrew Fang (BU) def. Bode Vance/Jin Dassanayake (D), 6-3
3. Keita Duclos/Alfrendo Vogelaar (D) def. Zubin Omar/Matt Carlson (BU), 6-2

Order of Finish: 3,2,1

SINGLES
1. Kaipo Marshall (D) def. William Morais Binnie (BU), 6-4, 3-6, 6-2
2. Filipe Costa (BU) def. Tamirian Teberikov (D), 7-6 (3), 6-1
3. Ronin Lotlikar (BU) def. Keita Duclos (D), 7-5, 7-5
4. Alfrendo Vogelaar (D) def. Zubin Omar (BU), 6-4, 7-5
5. Jin Dassanayake (D) def. Andrew Fang (BU), 6-2, 4-6, 6-4
6. Andre Ajed (BU) def. Bode Vance (D), 7-6 (5), 6-4

Order of Finish: 4,2,3,6,1,5