Flushing, NY – In less than a week, the Hawks were embroiled in yet another down to the wire conference battle that saw them come from behind in two singles matches to force third sets, but this time, there were not late heroics as the Hunter men's tennis team suffered its first CUNY Athletic Conference loss of the season, failing 5-4 to the College of Staten Island on Tuesday evening at the USTA Tennis Center in Flushing, NY.

The Dolphins gained an early 1-0 advantage following an 8-5 win at first doubles, but Hunter would end up taking second and third doubles to go up 2-1. Following their big win last Friday, the freshmen tandem of Arthur Kapetanakis (Staten Island, NY/Tottenville) and Louis Cruz (Bronx, NY/F.L.A.G.S.) defeated Patrick Thomas and Gary Ambartsumov 8-3 at second doubles. Then at third doubles, junior Roy Forberg (Brooklyn, NY/AOSR) and sophomore Mark Goldfinger (New York, NY/School of the Future) teamed up for the first time this season to claim an 8-3 victory over Riad Hamai and Thomas Pack.

The Dolphins quickly picked up three matches points following victories at first, second and fourth singles and looked to have third single wrapped up with junior Joe Taranto winning his first set 6-3. However, Kapetanakis fought back against his old high school foe and won the second set 7-5 and then the third set 6-2. In the meantime, Hunter sophomore Ian Katz (Woodside, NY/American Studies) won his sixth singles match 6-4, 6-1, so the overall match score was now knotted up at four.

The match's outcome now hinged on the fifth singles match between freshman Irving Salazar (Corona, NY/John Bowne) and Hamai, who won the first set 7-4 in the tiebreaker. Salazar then forced an extra set by winning the second set 7-6, 7-1 in the tiebreaker. In the final set, Hamai was able to come out on top, winning five straight games for a 6-1 win and giving the Dolphins control of first place in the CUNYAC.

Hunter (10-3, 6-1 CUNYAC) will look to close out conference play on Wednesday when they head to Jamaica, NY for a 3:30 p.m. match with York College